[Poems by Taylor in] Voices from the press a collection of sketches, essays, and poems, by practical printers |
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FRANKLIN. |
 | [Poems by Taylor in] Voices from the press |  |
119
FRANKLIN.
The thunders of a mighty age
May drown the voices of the Past,
But thou, the Printer and the Sage,
Shalt speak thy wisdom to the last.
May drown the voices of the Past,
But thou, the Printer and the Sage,
Shalt speak thy wisdom to the last.
The power to stay the fleeting Thought,
Unto thy hand was early given,
Till with the mind's quick lightning fraught,
It learned to fetter that of Heaven.
Unto thy hand was early given,
Till with the mind's quick lightning fraught,
It learned to fetter that of Heaven.
The page, where by the Printer's art,
Thy voice has been eternal made,
Still bears its lessons wide apart,
The world to gladden and to aid.
Thy voice has been eternal made,
Still bears its lessons wide apart,
The world to gladden and to aid.
And now the lightning's wing of fire,
Which first was tamed beneath thy hand,
Takes on its path of slender wire
The Printer's word from land to land,
Which first was tamed beneath thy hand,
Takes on its path of slender wire
The Printer's word from land to land,
They both shall work, from age to age,
For Truth and Right, Man's will sublime—
The flash of Thought on many a page,
The lightning-throb, outspeeding Time.
For Truth and Right, Man's will sublime—
The flash of Thought on many a page,
The lightning-throb, outspeeding Time.
| [Poems by Taylor in] Voices from the press | |