Walt Whitman
"When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
About the Captain
Looked up in perfect silence at stars
In the mystical moist night air
Astro labe
When I Heard the Learned 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 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.
What did he hear from the learned astronomer?
When I Heard the Wise Man
You should go astray
Look at these figures and charts
They prove you wrong and he is impossible
He did not create you and the Big Bang happened
I became angered and swor under my breath
I turned and stormed out the door
As I walked out into the night
I looked at the stars with my faith renewed