A Man Of Many Parts

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It was a man of many parts,
  Who in his coffer mind
Had stored the Classics and the Arts
  And Sciences combined;
The purest gems of poesy
  Came flashing from his pen--
The wholesome truths of History
  He gave his fellow men.

He knew the stars from "Dog" to Mars;
  And he could tell you, too,
Their distances--as though the cars
  Had often checked him through--
And time 'twould take to reach the sun,
  Or by the "Milky Way,"
Drop in upon the moon, or run
  The homeward trip, or stay.

With Logic at his fingers' ends,
  Theology in mind,
He often entertained his friends
  Until they died resigned;
And with inquiring mind intent
  Upon Alchemic arts
A dynamite experiment--
  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
  A man of many parts!

© James Whitcomb Riley