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Benjamin Franklin

 Franklin fathered bastards fourteen,
 (So I read in the New Yorker);
If it's true, in terms of courtin'
 Benny must have been a corker.
To be prudent I've aspired,
 And my passions I have mastered;
So that I have never sired
 A single bastard.

One of course can never know;
 But I think that if I had
It would give me quite a glow
 When a kiddie called me 'Dad.'
Watching toddlers at their play,
 Parentage I'd gladly claim,
But their mothers smiling say:
 'You're not to blame.'

Ben founded the Satevepost,
 And for that I much respect him;
But fourteen is quite a host
 Paternally to elect him.
'Fatherhood is not a crime,'
 Deemed fat Ben, 'there could be others . . .
Darlings, I had not the time
 To wed your mothers.'






Book: Reflection on the Important Things