Every now and then I need to be reminded of this...

[mousme]

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
   Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
   For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
   I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
   My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
   Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
   Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
   How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
   I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley (1849-1903)

Comments

McVeigh

[lightcastle.livejournal.com]

I've always thought this an interesting poem. It almost completely disappeared from view for a while, and then rushed back into popular consciousness when Timothy McVeigh refrenced it before his execution.

Re: McVeigh

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Huh. Neat. It's always been one my father has been wont to quote at the drop of a hat (along with one of Shakespeare's sonnets and a bunch of Baudelaire ^_-).