Franklin fathered bastards fourteen, <br /> (So I read in the New Yorker); <br />If it's true, in terms of courtin' <br /> Benny must have been a corker. <br />To be prudent I've aspired, <br /> And my passions I have mastered; <br />So that I have never sired <br /> A single bastard. <br /> <br />One of course can never know; <br /> But I think that if I had <br />It would give me quite a glow <br /> When a kiddie called me 'Dad.' <br />Watching toddlers at their play, <br /> Parentage I'd gladly claim, <br />But their mothers smiling say: <br /> 'You're not to blame.' <br /> <br />Ben founded the Satevepost, <br /> And for that I much respect him; <br />But fourteen is quite a host <br /> Paternally to elect him. <br />'Fatherhood is not a crime,' <br /> Deemed fat Ben, 'there could be others . . . <br />Darlings, I had not the time <br /> To wed your mothers.'<br /><br />Robert William Service<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/benjamin-franklin/
