For other versions of this work, see Limitation.
LIMITATION
AS when the imperial bird, wide-circling, soars
From his lonely eyrie, towered above the seas
That wash the wild and rugged Hebrides,
A force which he unconsciously adores
Bounds the majestic flight that heaven explores,
And droops his haughty wing; as when the breeze
Tempts to o'erleap their changeless boundaries
The waves that tumble foaming to those shores;
So thou, my soul! impatient of restriction,
With deathless hopes and longings all aglow,
Aspirest still, and still the stern prediction
Stays thee, as them,—"No further shalt thou go!"
But, ah! the eagle feels not thine affliction,
Nor can the broken waves thy disappointment know.