While researching the Trime, (see Not So Funny Money – The Three Cent Coin) I came across something I did not know about Benjamin Franklin. Not that this is a surprise, there are a lot of things I don’t know, and a man as accomplished as Mr. Franklin left behind quite a legacy to be learned from.
But this one stuck with me for some reason. He wrote his own epitaph. Not really as he was dying, but as a younger person. His epitaph was not used on his grave, but it does kind of give an insight to some of what he thought of himself and caused me to wonder what I would write for myself.
Here is what he wrote:
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 whlly lost: For it will, as he believ’d, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and Amended By the Author.
I suppose this hit home so well because I am an author.
You can read considerably more about his death (and some of his life) at Benjamin Franklin’s Funeral and Grave.
What would you write as your epitaph?