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)