Dedication + 

My father! unto thee to whom I owe + 

All that I am, all that I have and can; + 

Who madest me in thyself the sum of man + 

In all his generous aims and powers to know, + 

These first-fruits bring I; nor do thou forego + 

Marking when I the boyish feat began, + 

Which numbers now near three years from its plan, + 

Not twenty summers had imbrowned my brow. + 

Life is at blood-heat every page doth prove. + 

Bear with it. Nature means Necessity. + 

If here be aught which thou canst love, it springs + 

Out of the hope that I may earn that love + 

More unto me than immortality; + 

Or to have strang my harp with golden strings. + 