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When the proofs, the figures,
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were ranged in columns before me;
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When I was shown the charts and the diagrams,
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to add, divide, and measure them;
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When I, sitting, heard the astronomer,
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where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
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How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
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Till rising and gliding out,
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I wander'd off by myself,
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In the mystical moist night-air,
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and from time to time,
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Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.