Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

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

Poem 3

Satire

1] Hail, Saint Michael with the long spear! Your wings are beautiful upon your shoulders. You have a red kirtle straight to your foot. You are the best angel that God ever made. This verse is very well made. It is brought from a great distance.
7] Hail, Saint Christopher with your long stake! You bore Our Lord Jesus Christ over the broad lake. Many a great conger eel swims about your feet. How many herring for a penny at West Cheap in London? This verse is from Sacred Scripture, it comes from an illustrious talent.
13] Saint Mary's bastard, the Magdalen's son, your custom was always to be well dressed. You carry a box in your hand painted all over with gold. You were accustomed to be courteous give us some of your spices. This verse is well made, of consonants and vowels.
19] Hail, Saint Dominic with your long staff! It is as crooked as an iron hook at the upper end. You carry a book on your back, I think it is a Bible. Though you be a good cleric, you are not too exalted. Lo! an excellent rhyme, God knows it! I know not such another on earth.
25] Hail, Saint Francis, with your many birds - kites and crows, ravens and owls, twenty-four wild geese and a peacock! Many a stout-hearted beggar follows your company. This verse is very well put. From a very great distance it was sought for.
31] Hail, you friars with the white copes! You have a house at Drogheda where ropes are made. You are always wandering idly all about the country. You rob the churches of the brushes for sprinkling holy water. He was a very good master who understood this sentence.
37] Hail, you Williamite Hermits with your black robes! You leave the wilderness and fill the towns. Minors without and preachers within, your customary practice is the collecting of money, that is a great disgrace. This verse is cleverly said. It would be injurious set down in writing.
43] Hail, you holy monks with your tankards, late and early filled with ale and wine! You can booze deeply, that is your entire concern. You discipline frequently with Saint Benedict's scourge. Everyone pay attention to me: that this is artful you can see well.
49] Hail, you nuns of Saint Mary's house, God's ladies-in-waiting and his own spouses! You often 'treat your shoes amiss' (lose your virginity), your feet are very tender! Misfortune to the shoemaker who dresses your leather! You understood very well the one who made this song so worthily.
55] Hail, you priests with your big books! Though your crowns are shaven, your curly lock are handsome. You and other lay men only distribute alms in a niggardly fashion. When you distribute sacred bread, only give me a little. Certainly he was a learned man who wrote this skilful work.
61] Hail, you merchants with your large packages of cloth, avoir du poids, and your wool sacks, gold, silver, precious stones, rich marks and pounds too! You give little of it to the miserable poor. He who put this learning into writing was clever and full of intelligence.
67] Hail, you tailors with your sharp shears! You cut wedgeshaped pieces of cloth frequently to make hoods wrongly. Your needles are hot in preparation for mid-winter. Though your seams seem fine, they last [only] a short time. The cleric who made this stanza, without doubt, was awake and did not sleep at all.
73] Hail, you shoemakers with your many lasts! With your soft hides of wonderful animals, and afflictions and plaiting tools, leather-cutting tool and awls. Your teeth are black and horrible, filthy was that crowd. Is not this stanza well put? Each word of it fits correctly.
79] Hail, you skinners with your poisonous vat! Whoever smells it is much distressed. When it thunders you may void excrement therein. Misfortune on your manners, you cause the whole street to stink! He who composed this true utterance would be entitled by merit to be a king.
85] Hail, you potters with your axe for splitting wood! Fine are your aprons, yellow is the hair of your head. You stand at the stall, broadly built, terrible men. You are subservient to the flesh, you swallow enough. The best cleric in this whole town made this verse skilfully.
91] Hail, you bakers with your very great many small loaves of white and black bread! You drive hard bargains on the correct grain, against God's law. Take heed, I advise, to the fine pillory! This verse is so well made that no tongue, indeed, can tell of it.
97] Hail, you brewers with your gallons, half-gallons and quarts over all the towns! Your thumb-measures steal a lot away, shame on the double-dealing. Be wary of the cucking-stool, the lake is deep and muddy. Truly, he was a learned man who composed this work so craftily.
103] Hail, you peddlers down by the lake, with candles and bowls and black pots, tripes and cows' feet and sheep's heads! With the dirty liver your stall is filthy. He who is joined to such a wife is grieved that he is alive.
109] Fie upon devils, miserable wretches who card the wool, the shameful signs of the pillory of the public weighing scales on high upon your heads! You made such an obnoxious noise for me above all the howls, and so I made one of you sit upon a flax-comb. He was a noble and good cleric who understood this profound teaching.
115] Make merry, my friends, you sit still for too long, speak now, and rejoice and drink all you fill! You have heard of the lives of men who live in the land. Drink deeply and make merry, may you have no other need. This song has been recited by me. May you be blessed always.
Explicit.