Invictus

William Henley wrote this poem along with a collection of others from 1873-1875 while he was in a hospital due to complications from Tuberculosis of the bone. It speaks clearly of perseverance and directing one's fate. The poem was a favorite of Nelson Mandela's. He read it to inmates while he was imprisoned to help keep their/his spirits up. I read it as a reminder that no matter what we "think" we are going through; no matter how difficult the challenge appears, who we truly are can never be hurt or conquered or become less than.  We are and will always be whole.

Invictus

William Ernest Henley

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.