When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer

¹When I heard the learn'd astronomer,

²When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,

³When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,

⁴When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,

⁵How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,

⁶Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,

⁷In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,

⁸Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.