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   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 wandered off by myself
     In the mystical moist night air, and from time to time,
     Looked up in perfect silence at the stars.

                                                    -- Walt Whitman (1819-1892)