This is a revised version of an earlier work!
Edwin
Born in the Show Me state
the son of an insurance man.
Youthful interests were entirely terrestrial;
jock, fly fisherman, boxer.
In college bloomed a hint of calling;
a frat boy studying math,
astronomy and philosophy.
Among the first Rhodes scholars,
British dress and manners
stuck with him all his life.
Mount Wilson was his home,
the faint glow of omnipresent pipe
reflecting vast nebulae.
In his day, scholars knew one galaxy,
but he saw many.
From the Milky Way to
myriad spirals and ellipticals,
he expanded the universe.
The Hubble Constant revealed
silent stars rushing away at
terrible speed.
His Redshift Distance Law caused
Einstein to declare his galactic fudge factor
the biggest blunder of his life.
His star burned bright,
he was gone at sixty three.
There was no funeral and
His wife never revealed
what became of the body.
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