I have been having recurring dreams about shooting arrows since early August, 2015. A website about dreams advised me that I must subconsciously be targeting a goal. That might be true, but I am not sure. There is a common assumption with shooting arrows that one must be shooting at something. In my case, that may not be true.
When I was young, I shot a 6 foot long, 40 pound, wooden double-recurve bow that was a hand-me-down from my Father. He had purchased a modern fiberglass bow. He was very left handed, and I was ambidextrous, so I learned to shoot a bow left handed. I still shoot left handed today. (I hold the bow in my right hand and pull the string with my left.)
I had a friend (Bill Kirschbaum) and we shot bows together. We went hunting, but I don’t remember either of us ever killing anything with a bow. Mostly we just enjoyed shooting the arrows to watch them fly. There was a cemetery, on a hill, near my house and it was a great place to shoot arrows and watch them fly.
One of the fun things to do was to shoot the staffs of old cemetery flags. (The flags that were put on veterans’ graves.) The flags would get old and frayed and bleached out by the sun, or blow away by the wind. The staffs would warp in the rain and sun. I would pull up the staff, cut an bow string notch with my pen knife and shoot the staff high in the air. Since the staffs were bent and warped, they would sail in circles and do loop-de-loops and barrel rolls in the sky! Fun to watch! (Not a safe thing to do. No telling where that staff would come down! But I was much younger then.) (My pardons to any veterans: I was a young teenager then and no insult was intended to anybody.)
Years later I visited Oxford England with a lady friend. We visited the Saxon Tower (St Michael at the North Gate, originally built around 1040AD.) I said, “This would be a great place to shoot arrows from!” My lady friend said, “Why would I want to shoot people with arrows?” I replied, “I don’t wish to shoot anybody with arrows! I just like to shoot arrows in the air and watch them fly! They can stick in the ground! It’s an easy target to hit!”
Similarly, with my Arrow Flight Blog, I intend to shoot a few arrows into the air to watch them fly. This brings to mind two poems, the first by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
The Arrow and the Song
By Henry Wadsworth 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 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.
It also reminds me of a joke poems that appeared in Boy’s Life magazine, many years ago: (Sorry, I do not remember the original author.)
I shot a arrow into the air.
It fell to earth I know just where!
Though aimed at a buck that stood afar,
It pierced the radiator of my car!
Arrow Flight Blog – Blog-1
March 8, 2016
When I was young, I shot a 6 foot long, 40 pound, wooden double-recurve bow that was a hand-me-down from my Father. He had purchased a modern fiberglass bow. He was very left handed, and I was ambidextrous, so I learned to shoot a bow left handed. I still shoot left handed today. (I hold the bow in my right hand and pull the string with my left.)
I had a friend (Bill Kirschbaum) and we shot bows together. We went hunting, but I don’t remember either of us ever killing anything with a bow. Mostly we just enjoyed shooting the arrows to watch them fly. There was a cemetery, on a hill, near my house and it was a great place to shoot arrows and watch them fly.
One of the fun things to do was to shoot the staffs of old cemetery flags. (The flags that were put on veterans’ graves.) The flags would get old and frayed and bleached out by the sun, or blow away by the wind. The staffs would warp in the rain and sun. I would pull up the staff, cut an bow string notch with my pen knife and shoot the staff high in the air. Since the staffs were bent and warped, they would sail in circles and do loop-de-loops and barrel rolls in the sky! Fun to watch! (Not a safe thing to do. No telling where that staff would come down! But I was much younger then.) (My pardons to any veterans: I was a young teenager then and no insult was intended to anybody.)
Years later I visited Oxford England with a lady friend. We visited the Saxon Tower (St Michael at the North Gate, originally built around 1040AD.) I said, “This would be a great place to shoot arrows from!” My lady friend said, “Why would I want to shoot people with arrows?” I replied, “I don’t wish to shoot anybody with arrows! I just like to shoot arrows in the air and watch them fly! They can stick in the ground! It’s an easy target to hit!”
Similarly, with my Arrow Flight Blog, I intend to shoot a few arrows into the air to watch them fly. This brings to mind two poems, the first by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
The Arrow and the Song
By Henry Wadsworth 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 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.
It also reminds me of a joke poems that appeared in Boy’s Life magazine, many years ago: (Sorry, I do not remember the original author.)
I shot a arrow into the air.
It fell to earth I know just where!
Though aimed at a buck that stood afar,
It pierced the radiator of my car!
Arrow Flight Blog – Blog-1
March 8, 2016
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