Akoot Famous Writers

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,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

Written by Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

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