Ben Franklin Epitaph

Again, another tidbit from the book I recently finished –

Benjamin Franklin wrote an epitaph for his gravestone in 1728 when he was 22 years old.

The body of

B. Franklin, Printer

(Like the Cover of an Old Book

Its Contents torn Out

And Stript of its Lettering and Gilding)

Lies Here, Food for Worms.

But the Work shall not be Lost;

For it will (as he Believ'd) Appear once More

In a New and More Elegant Edition

Revised and Corrected

By the Author.

As his death approached in 1790 at the age of 84 he directed that his gravestone read
“Benjamin and Deborah Franklin”
and nothing more than that.


Tom
August 2011