Walt Whitman
Sometimes you have to ignore all the chatter and just look up at the stars!
Here’s a poem by Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892), American poet, essayist, and journalist, considered one of the most influential poets in American history.
Whitman incorporated both transcendentalism and realism in his writings and is often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in his time, particularly his 1855 poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described by some as obscene for its overt sensuality.
Visit the following link to hear Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson recite Whitman’s “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”
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 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.
--Walt Whitman