leaves of grass

It rained a lot on our whirlwind trip through the midwest, but with rain come newness & beauty. If you look closely, you can see tiny hairs on one of the blades of grass. I think the hairs are called stomata.

When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer
Walt Whitman (1819–1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.

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;	5
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 first read this in 7th grade and it is still by far one of my favorite pieces of free verse poetry. (I even thought about embroidering it on a pillow.) I know this poem has nothing to do with my picture, but Walt Whitman's collection of poems are entitled Leaves of Grass, so I figured I could put them together.