The poem/song that cnd posted just above, is also in our DigiTrad database and has been posted in several Mudcat threads:

Women's Song Circle
Origins: Poor Old Woman/Housewife's Lament – 5 versions
June 2012 Declutter & Exercise - hothothot!
womens songs

The one posted by Maeve in the "Origins" thread is, I believe, the original: A HOUSEKEEPER'S TRAGEDY by Eliza Sproat Turner, 1872.