Benjamin Franklin

Franklin! our Franklin! America's loved son!—Loved in his day, and now, as few indeed:Franklin! whose mighty genius allies won,To aid her, in great need!

Franklin! with noble charm that fear allays,—Tact, judgment, insight, humor naught could dim!—"Antiquity," said Mirabeau, "would raiseAltars to honor him!"

How should one country claim him, or one hour?Bound to no narrow circuit, and no time,He is the World's—part of her lasting dower,One with her hope sublime.

His kindred are the equable and kindWhose constant thought is to uplift and bless;The witty, and the wise, the large of mind,Who ignorance redress:

His kindred are the bold who, undismayed,Believe that good is ever within reach,—All who move onward—howsoe'er delayed—Who learn, that they may teach:

Who overcoming pain and weariness,In life's long battle bear a noble part;All who, like him,—greatest of gifts!—possessThe genius of the heart!

How should we praise whose deeds belittle praise,Whose monument perpetual is our landSaved by his wisdom, in disastrous days,From tyranny's strong hand?—

How praise whose Titan-thought, beyond Earth's kenAspiring, tamed the lightnings in revolt,Subduing to the will of mortal menThe awful thunderbolt?

Our debt looms larger than our love can pay:We know not with what homage him to graceWhose name outlasts the monument's decay,—A glory to our race!

With tireless hope, he seems to move beforeBeck'ning to all that helpful is and free:A lover of mankind, inheritorOf Immortality!