The Wife of Usher's Well

There lived a wife in Usher’s Well
A wealthy wife was she;
She had three stout and stalwart sons
And sent them o’er the sea.
They had not been from Usher’s Well,
A week but barely one,
When word came to this carlin wife
That her three sons were gone.
“I wish the wind may never cease
Nor flashes in the flood
Till my three sons return to me
In earthly flesh and blood.”
It fell about the Martinmas,
The nights were long and dark,
Three sons came home to Usher’s Well
Their hats were made of bark
That neither grew in forest green
Nor on any wooded rise,
But from the north side of the tree
That grows in Paradise.
“Blow up the fire, my merry merry maidens,
Bring water from the well
For all my house shall feed this night
Since my three sons are well.”
Then up and crowed the blood red cock
And up and crowed the grey,
The oldest to the youngest said,
“It’s time we were away.
“For the cock does crow and the day doth show
And the channerin worm doth chide
And we must go from Usher’s Well
To the gates of Paradise.”
“I wish the wind may never cease
Nor flashes in the flood
Till my three sons return to me
In earthly flesh and blood.”