Thomas Edison | By Our Own Hands

We owe much of our modern world to the inventions of Thomas Edison, who grew up in Port Huron, Michigan.  He died on today's date (October 18) in 1931.  This verse celebrating him is from Red, White & Blue. 

Thomas Edison

By Our Own Hands

In the heart of the Midwest, under winter’s sky,

Born was a child with an inquisitive eye,

Thomas Alva Edison, bound to ascend high,

In a world on the cusp of the technology ply.

In Port Huron, Michigan, he shaped his craft,

An entrepreneurial spirit, an inventor’s draft,

From newsboy to telegrapher, he grew adept,

His own company in Michigan, he kept.

With a mind like a storm and hands skilled to create,

A thousand patents in his name, an illustrious slate,

From the phonograph’s song to the motion picture’s state,

And the practical bulb, his genius innate.

The power systems twirling, Edison’s great plan,

He birthed the first power station, modern era began,

Even in the Currents’ War, with Tesla, man to man,

Their rival sparks eventually fused, completing the span.

Edison’s tale, of sweat, grit, and thought,

Of a future forged, of a progress sought,

In the heart of America, his story taught

That by our own hands, a better world is wrought.