THE TOWN OF DAE

by: Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)

Swains and maidens, young and old,

You to me this tale have told.




here the squalid town of Dae

Irks the comfortable sea,

Spreading webs to gather fish,

As for wealth we set a wish,

Dwelt a king by right divine,

Sprung from Adam's royal line,

Town of Dae by the sea,

Divers kinds of kings there be.




Name nor fame had Picklepip:

Ne'er a soldier nor a ship

Bore his banners in the sun;

Naught knew he of kingly sport,

And he held his royal court

Under an inverted tun.

Love and roses, ages through,

Bloom where cot and trellis stand;

Never yet these blossoms grew—

Never yet was room for two—

In a cask upon the strand.




So it happened, as it ought,

That his simple schemes he wrought

Through the lagging summer's day

In a solitary way.

So it happened, as was best,

That he took his nightly rest

With no dreadful incubus

This way eyed and that way tressed,

Featured thus, and thus, and thus,

Lying lead-like on a breast

By cares of State enough oppressed.

Yet in dreams his fancies rude

Claimed a lordly latitude.

Town of Dae by the sea,

Dreamers mate above their state

And waken back to their degree.




Once to cask himself away

He prepared at close of day.

As he tugged with swelling throat

At a most unkingly coat—

Not to get it off, but on,

For the serving sun was gone—

Passed a silk-appareled sprite

Toward her castle on the height,

Seized and set the garment right.

Turned the startled Picklepip—

Splendid crimson cheek and lip!

Turned again to sneak away,




But she bade the villain stay,

Bade him thank her, which he did

With a speech that slipped and slid,

Sprawled and stumbled in its gait

As a dancer tries to skate.

Town of Dae by the sea,

In the face of silk and lace

Rags too bold should never be.




Lady Minnow cocked her head:

"Mister Picklepip," she said,

"Do you ever think to wed?"

Town of Dae by the sea,

No fair lady ever made a

Wicked speech like that to me!




Wretched little Picklepip

Said he hadn't any ship,

Any flocks at his command,

Nor to feed them any land;

Said he never in his life

Owned a mine to keep a wife.

But the guilty stammer so

That his meaning wouldn't flow;

So he thought his aim to reach

By some figurative speech:

Said his Fate had been unkind

Had pursued him from behind

(How the mischief could it else?)




Came upon him unaware,

Caught him by the collar—there

Gushed the little lady's glee

Like a gush of golden bells:

"Picklepip, why, that is me!"

Town of Dae by the sea,

Grammar's for great scholars—she

Loved the summer and the lea.




Stupid little Picklepip

Allowed the subtle hint to slip—

Maundered on about the ship

That he did not chance to own;

Told this grievance o'er and o'er,

Knowing that she knew before;

Told her how he dwelt alone.

Lady Minnow, for reply,

Cut him off with "So do I!"

But she reddened at the fib;

Servitors had she, ad lib.

Town of Dae by the sea,

In her youth who speaks no truth

Ne'er shall young and honest be.




Witless little Picklepip

Manned again his mental ship

And veered her with a sudden shift.

Painted to the lady's thought

How he wrestled and he wrought




Stoutly with the swimming drift

By the kindly river brought

From the mountain to the sea,

Fuel for the town of Dae.

Tedious tale for lady's ear:

From her castle on the height,

She had watched her water-knight

Through the seasons of a year,

Challenge more than met his view

And conquer better than he knew.

Now she shook her pretty pate

And stamped her foot—'t was growing late:

"Mister Picklepip, when I

Drifting seaward pass you by;

When the waves my forehead kiss

And my tresses float above—

Dead and drowned for lack of love—

You'll be sorry, sir, for this!"

And the silly creature cried—

Feared, perchance, the rising tide.

Town of Dae by the sea,

Madam Adam, when she had 'em,

May have been as bad as she.




Fiat lux! Love's lumination

Fell in floods of revelation!

Blinded brain by world aglare,

Sense of pulses in the air,




Sense of swooning and the beating

Of a voice somewhere repeating

Something indistinctly heard!

And the soul of Picklepip

Sprang upon his trembling lip,

But he spake no further word

Of the wealth he did not own;

In that moment had outgrown

Ship and mine and flock and land—

Even his cask upon the strand.

Dropped a stricken star to earth,

Type of wealth and worldly worth.

Clomb the moon into the sky,

Type of love's immensity!

Shaking silver seemed the sea,

Throne of God the town of Dae!

Town of Dae by the sea,

From above there cometh love,

Blessing all good souls that be.

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