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Poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


The Arrow and the Song


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.

"The Arrow and the Song," by Longfellow (1807-82), is placed first in this volume out of respect to a little girl of six years who used to love to recite it to me. She knew many poems, but this was her favourite.



Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's other poems:
  1. To the River Rhone
  2. To the River Yvette
  3. King Olaf’s War-Horns
  4. The Crew of the Long Serpent
  5. Oliver Basselin


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