Thursday, October 20, 2011

The Dome of Heaven



When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer 

Walt Whitman first published this in, Leaves of Grass. 

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 the 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.


I live in a city where the 'light pollution' blanks out much of the night sky. You can only see the brightest stars. However in the desert, or in the high mountains where the air is dry and clear, the Milky Way bursts brilliantly overhead.  And sometimes it seems that you can reach out and touch heaven.



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10 comments:

Coffeypot said...

I remember as a kid lying in the yard looking and all the zilions of stars and the cloud of the Milky way. Now, with all the pollution it's just not possible. I would love it if my grand-kids could see the heavens as I once did.

Opus #6 said...

Some experiences are better lived, rather than quantified.

LL said...

Not all that counts can be counted.

Not all that can be counted, counts.

WoFat said...

Milky Way? Why get so excited by a candy bar?

LL said...

It's a very cool candy bar.

darlin said...

LL I love your response to Opus, is that a quote by someone or is it the quote that you will be remembered by ?

If you do by chance reach out and touch heaven please put in a good word for me ... I need all the help I can get right about now.

LL said...

Darlin - I'm not your spokesman. Heaven doesn't want me and Hell is afraid that I'll take over.

Az said...

I love these pics... it calms my soul in the oddest way. Maybe I should buy a ticket on Richard Branson's Galactic Tourist Spaceship? If I win the lotto, or three ;)

Anonymous said...

I live in the high desert with no light pollution and the stars are my canopy!

LSP said...

Good old Mr. Whitman!

Just add the line "And shot the hog" at the end.

Perfect.

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