Wife of Usher's Well

There lived a wife at Usher's Well
And a wealthy wife was she
She had three stout and stalwart sons
She sent them over the sea

They had not been a week from her
A week but barely one
When word came to this carline wife
That her three sons were gone

They had not been a week from her
A week but barely three
When word came to that carline wife
Her sons she'd never see

"I wish the winds may never cease
Nor flashes in the flood
'Til my three sons come home to me
In earthly flesh and blood"

O now the day is over
The night is drawing nigh
The shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky

It fell about one Easter Eve
On a night so dark and long,
That wife's three sons came home to her
Beneath the light of the moon

Their hats were bark, their coats were moss,
With dirt all wet with worm
But the wife could not contain her joy
At her three sons' return

"Blow up the fire, my maidens
Bring water from the well
For all my house shall feast this night
Since my three sons are well."

O now the day is over…

Up then crowed the red, red cock
and up then crowed the grey
The eldest to the youngest said
"It's time we were away."

"The cock does crow, the day does dawn
The grumbling worms do chide
If we are missed out of our place
A sore pain we must bide."

"Fare thee well, my mother dear,
farewell to barn and byre
and farewell to the maiden fair
who kindles our mother's fire."

O now the day is over…