When I Heard The Learned 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 wander'd off by myself.,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Looked up in perfect silence at the stars.

Walt Whitman
VOYAGES

Collected years back by
Marylee manson Armour