Ben Franklin's Epitaph (written as a younger man)

Ben Franklin wrote this in 1729, but it's not on his gravestone.

 

 

The Body

of

Benjamin Franklin, Printer

(Like the cover of an old book,

Its contents torn out,

And stript of its letter and guilding,)

Lies food for worms:

Yet the work itself shall not be lost,

For it will (as he believed) appear once more

In a new

And more beautiful edition,

Corrected and Amended

by

The Author