When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer...

[fajrdrako]

By Walt Whitman (American, 1819–1892):

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 the 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.

Comments

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Now that is very fine. I don't think I have ever read any Whitman before... how is that possible?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

how is that possible?

I'm sure the world is full of poets I haven't read and should have and would love if only I knew about them. Which is a good reason to keep reading! and posting.