When I heard the learn'd astronomer

A contribution from Maxine Young.

When I heard the learn'd astronomer, by Walt Whitman (1819-1892) 

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.