Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

Anglo-Irish poems of the Middle Ages (Author: [unknown])

Poem 1

The Land of Cokaygne

1] Far away in the sea, to the west of Spain, is a land called Cokaygne. There is not a land beneath the kingdom of heaven like it for prosperity and excellence.
5] Though Paradise may be joyful and bright, Cokaygne is of more beautiful appearance. What is there in Paradise but grass and flower and green leafy spray?
Though there may be joy and great pleasure, there is
10] no food but fruit; there is no hall, lodging nor seat, only water to quench man's thirst.
There are only two men
15] there, Elijah and Enoch too. Desolately, they can go where men dwell no more.
In Cokaygne there is food and drink without sorrow, anxiety and toil. The food is excellent, the drink is is pure, for mid-day meal, light collation and supper.
20] I say indeed, without doubt, there is not a land on earth its equal. Indeed, there is not a land under heaven of so much joy and happiness.
25] There is many a delightful sight, it is always day, there is no night there. There is neither conflict nor strife, there is no death there, but life perpetually.
30] There is no lack of food or clothing, neither man nor woman is angry there. There is not a serpent nor a wolf nor a fox, horse nor hunter, cow nor ox. There is not a sheep nor a pig nor a goat, nor any filth, lo! God knows it.
35] There is neither horse-breeding establishment nor stud. The land is full of other wealth: there is no fly, flea nor louse in clothing, bed or house.
There is no thunder there, sleet nor hail, nor any
40] repulsive worm or snail, nor any storm, rain or wind. No man or woman is blind there, on the contrary, everything is pleasure and happiness and amusement. He is fortunate who can be there!
45] There are great and excellent rivers there of oil, milk, honey and wine. Water serves no purpose there, except as something to look at and for washing. There are many
50] kinds of fruit, everything is pleasure and enjoyment.
There is a very splendid abbey of white and grey monks. There are bedrooms and halls. The walls are entirely
55] of pies, of meat, fish and excellent food, the most delightful that men can eat.
The shingles of the church, the cloister, bedroom and hall are all cakes made of flour, the pegs are
60] fat sausages, excellent food for princes and kings.
Man can eat enough of it as by right and not wrongfully. Everything is held in common by young and old, by the proud and the fierce, the humble and the brave.
65] There is a cloister beautiful and full of light, broad and long, beautiful to see. All the pillars of that cloister are
70] shaped in crystal, with their base and capital of green jasper and red coral.
In the meadow is a tree, very pleasant to see; the root is ginger and galingale, the shoots are entirely of zedoary, the
75] flower is excellent mace, the bark cinnamon of pleasant scent, the fruit a clove of good flavour.
There is no lack of cubebs. There are roses there of red colour,
80] and the lily, so pleasant to see. They never wither, day or night, this must be a pleasant sight!
There are four springs in the abbey, of healing ointment
85] and healing medicine, of balsam and also spiced wine. Ever running from these streams without diminishing the whole world, are precious stones and gold.
90] There is sapphire and large pearl, carbuncle and moonstone, emerald, ligure and prasine, beryl, onyx, topaz, amethyst and chrysolite, chalcedony and red precious stone.
95] There are a great many birds there, song thrush and thrush, nightingale, lark and golden oriole, and other birds without number, which never stop singing joyfully as well as
100] they can, day or night.
I will let you know more still. The geese roasted on the spit fly to that abbey, God knows it, and they cry out: ‘Geese, right hot, right hot!’ The best dressed that man can see, they
105] bring garlic in great abundance.
The larks, which are renowned, come down to man's
110] mouth fully dressed in a great stewpan, sprinkled with clove and cinnamon. There is no talk of not drinking, but take enough without toil.
When the monks go to Mass, all the windows
115] which are of glass turn into radiant chrystal, to give them more light. When the Masses are said and the books put away,
120] the crystal turns into glass, to the state that it was in before.
Every day after food the young monks go to play. There is neither hawk nor bird so swift, better at flying through the
125] air than the high-spirited monks with their sleeves and their hoods.
When the abbot sees them fly, he regards it with great pleasure, but nevertheless, right there in the midst of it, he
130] requests them to come down to evensong.
The monks do not come down, but fly further in a rush. When the abbot sees for himself that his monks fly away
135] from him, he takes a girl from the crowd and turns up her white buttocks and beats the small drums with his hand, to make his monks come down to land.
140] When his monks see that, they fly down to the girl and go all around the wench and all pat her white buttocks. And then after their toil they take their way obediently home to
145] drink, and go to their collation, a very fine procession.
Another abbey is nearby, in truth a big beautiful nunnery, upon a river of sweet milk, where there is great abundance
150] of silk.
When the summer day is hot, the young nuns take a boat, and take themselves out on that river both with oars and with rudder.
155] When they are far from the abbey, they make themselves naked in order to play, and leap down into the water and devote themselves skilfully to swimming.
The young
160] monks who see them take themselves upwards and out they fly, and come to the nuns at once, and each monk takes one for himself and quickly carries forth his prey to the
165] great grey abbey, and teaches the nuns a prayer with legs uplifted thoroughly.
The monk who wishes to be a good stallion and knows how to arrange his hood becomingly shall have, without difficulty,
170] twelve wives a year, entirely by right and not by grace, in order to give himself pleasure.
And there is hope for that same monk who sleeps best and puts his body
175] completely at rest, God knows, to be Father Abbot immediately.
Whoever wishes to come to that land must do a very
180] great penance. For seven years, you know well, he must wade in pig's dung all the way up to the chin, in order that he shall attain the land.
Gentlemen, virtuous and noble, may you never
185] depart from this world until you risk your luck and perform that penance, so that you may see that land and nevermore return again.
190] Let us pray to God that it may be so! Amen, for blessed charity.
Finit.