A is for...

No, I have never been a Hamilton.
At most and at my best I am a Burr:
Watching and waiting for the slow-built stir
Of something calmly and obliquely done
Though no less fully. What I have begun
Will finish. What I stop will not recur.
It's true, I must admit I might prefer
To be th'eclipse and not the setting sun;
To have them marvel at my very sight
As at a wonder, point and gawk and stare,
Instead of bidding all to all goodnight
Without surprise, as if I were not there.
Yet which is greater: sudden unchecked power
Or influence on every single hour?