As a boy, a tallow-chandler but fond
of reading, he views and longs for the sea.
His father disagrees, chooses to bond
Ben to his older brother James, duty
as printer. He reads Bunyan, Plutarch, quotes
and writes verses. Josiah growls Poets
are beggars. Still dreaming
of sailing boats,
he stumbles onto cunning Socrates,
employs his method to near perfection.
Think of ink stains under his fingernails.
That great young mind dancing in reflection
of Locke’s Human Understanding. His frail
lunch of biscuit, raisins and water—feat
of will at 16 by giving up meat.
Roger Armbrust
February 1,
2013
