Bastille Day – Georgetown by Martin Wylde Carter

Not wanting to deny, I
believed it. Not wanting
to believe it, I denied
our Bastille day. This,
is nothing to storm. This
fourteenth of July. With
my own eyes, I saw the fierce
criminal passing for citizen
with a weapon, a piece of wood
and five for one. We laugh
Bastille laughter. These are
not men of death. A pot
of rice is their foul reward.

I have at last started
to understand the origin
of our vileness, and being
unable to deny it, I suggest
its nativity.
In the shame of knowledge
of our vileness, we shall fight.

From: http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/features/07/18/storming-of-the-bastille-all-over-again/

Date: 1980

By: Martin Wylde Carter (1927-1997)