Napier's bones

Rest in pieces

Here lie John Napier’s Bones
that marvellous son
of Fibonacci
sprung
from Bosnia, an Ottoman
whose Persian and Iraqi roots
slipped Hindu lattices
true Scot down to the boots
a mind
whose problems
broken into parts
made slow routes quick
and still
included hating Catholics
Somehow the Truth
evades such repetitions
and all our sums
cannot resolve
without we master
long division