“Eleven years winged their changeful flight — as the novels say. Eleven years winged their changeful flight, and last week came at last.” (Mark Twain in “On Postage Rates on Authors’ Manuscript”)
If you’re curious, a Google search for the phrase “years winged their” returns these results:
Reminiscences of Wilmington, in Familiar Village Tales, Ancient and New. (1851) by Elizabeth Montgomery (on Google Books)
“Her birthplace was Liverpool. She had married young and settled in Halifax, and, happy in domestic life, years winged their flight amid peace and plenty until it pleased God to lay his afflictive hand upon her.”
Perseus with the Hesperides (1893) by Bryan Charles Waller (on archive.org)
“Yet ever as the dull years winged their flight,/ My sorrow, slowly lessening, died away/ Into a rayless calm, as cold and still/ As the white silence of a frozen lake,/ Soft -shrouded deep in drifted snows : and oft/ So empty, pale, and dreamlike seems my life.”
The Leisure Hour: A Family Journal of Instruction and Recreation (1853), “The Two Paths, a tale” (on Google Books)
“Years winged their flight into the abyss of the past, and Edward Minet at length revisited his native land.”
The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Anderson containing his strange varieties of fortune in Europe and America. (1782) by Edward Kimber (on archive.org)
“Thus, four years winged their round; in which time, under the notion of only learning to write and cast accounts, Fanny became the most accomplished maid in Maryland…”
The Lowell Offering and Magazine (1843) “Stories from the Linn-side No. III: The Victim of Revenge” (on Google Books)
“He had passed the prime of life before he chose a partner to share his joys and sorrows, and scarcely had two years winged their rapid flight before she was called to join the angel choir…”
Female Robinson Crusoe: A Tale of the American Wilderness (1837) By Lucy Ford (on Google Books)
“Hours, days, weeks, months, years winged their passage, and all was felicity and secret, hoarded enjoyment, altho’ they tenanted separate mansions.”