An arrow hangs above a forked path through a misty landscape beneath a dusky blue-and-gold sky.

Original artwork, not a still

The Arrow and the Song • 1845

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I shot an arrow into the air, It fell to earth, I knew not where.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker sends an arrow into the air and cannot say where it comes down. The lines capture the uncertainty of an act whose effects cannot be followed once released. Something launched with care may land beyond sight or knowledge.

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