McClure's Magazine/Volume 9/Number 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 the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
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.

From "Leaves of Grass," by Walt Whitman;
David McKay, Publisher, Philadelphia.
By special permission.