I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For, so swiftly it flew, the sight Could not follow it in its flight. I breathed a song into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where; For who has sight so keen and strong, That it can follow the flight of song? Long, long afterward, in an oak I found the arrow, still unbroke; And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend.
Where these words come from
- 95% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
- The Arrow and the Song (1845); Complete twelve-line public-domain poem, preserving its movement from a lost song to its survival in a friend’s heart. Not lyrics copied from a later musical adaptation.
- The Arrow and the Song (1845)
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