Leaves of Grass (1882)/By the Roadside/When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer

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Leaves of Grass (1882)
by Walt Whitman
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
3303746Leaves of Grass (1882) — When I Heard the Learn'd AstronomerWalt Whitman

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 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.