In Cocaigne

by Clark Ashton Smith

[Copied from: Poseidonis, Ballantine, 1973]

It was a windless afternoon of April, beneath skies that were tender as the
smile of love, when we went forth, you and I, to seek the fabulous and fortunate
realm of Cocaigne. Past leafing oaks with foliage of bronze and chrysolite,
through zones of yellow and white and red and purple flowers, like a landscape
seen through a prism, we fared with hopeful and tremulous hearts, forgetting all
save the dream we had cherished. *** At last we came to the lonely woods, the
pines with their depth of balmy, cool, compassionate shadow, which are sacred to
the genius of that land. There, for the first time I was bold to take your hand
in mine, and led you to a slope where the woodland lilies, with petals of white
and yellow ivory, gleamed among the fallen needles. As in a dream, I found that
my arms were about you, as in a dream I kissed your yielding lips, and the
ardent pallor of your cheeks and throat. Motionless, you clung to me, and a
flush arose beneath my kisses like a delicate stain, and lingered softly, Your
eyes deepened to my gaze like the brown pools of the forest at evening, and far
within them, as in immensity itself, trembled and shone the steadfast stars of
your love. As a ship that has wandered beneath stormy suns and disastrous moons,
but comes at last to the arms of the shielding harbour, my head lay on the
gentle heaving of your delicious breast, and I knew that we had found Cocaigne.