| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | July 14 | | The Column of July | | By George Gordon McCrae (1833–1927) |
| | | | The storming of the Bastille took place on July 14, 1789. |
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TIME was, ere thy bright presence bathed the “Place” | |
| In borrowed sunshine, when the Bastille towers | |
| Frowned on the passer-by; and silence reigned | |
| Supremely sad, save where the night-bird cries | |
| Of sentinels beat back the crowding air; | 5 |
| Or where the booming clock, with sullen tones, | |
| Proclaimed the lapse, the wane, the death of hours; | |
| Or where the low cadenzas of a lute, | |
| Borne through a loophole’s gush of whirling wind, | |
| And mingled with strange murmurs, tranced the ear, | 10 |
| Saddening all souls that felt the harmony, | |
| Too late! too late thy brandished blazing torch | |
| Flamed like a glory through those darkened cells; | |
| Too late the might of thine herculean arm | |
| Wrested. O golden angel! from those doors | 15 |
| The bolts and staples, hinges, massy chains, | |
| Setting the captives free, mid warlike din, | |
| And voices of a populace that roared, | |
| “Down with the Bastille! Over with it! Down!” | |
| Another angel, with a sadder face, | 20 |
| Descended like a dart, still angel-like, | |
| Through clouds of air, stout roofs, and floors of stone, | |
| Into the masked one’s cell, and sat with him, | |
| Looked the unutterable mystery | |
| Into the weary eyes that followed his, | 25 |
| Content to be absorbed; then vanishing | |
| Fled out into the night,—and not alone. | | | |
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