The Arrow And The Song

 THE ARROW AND THE SONG

by H.W. Longfellow

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 to keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterwards, in oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end.
I found again in the heat of a friend