Friday, September 12, 2008

Day 6: When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer by Walt Whitman

When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer

When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When 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 mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Looked up in perfect silence at the stars.

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