When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer

When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer

 

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,

When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,

When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide and measure

…..them,

When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause

…..in the lecture room,

How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,

Till rising and gliding out I wandered off by myself,

In the mysical moist night air, and from time to time,

Looked up in perfect silence at the stars.

by Walt Whitman