Monday, August 16, 2010

Invictus

A truly inspiring poem, it inspired the great Nelson Mandela in times he was feeling down, even today it inspires those who may or may not be looking for inspiration.

It gave name to the great movie based on Mandela's effort to transform South Africa.

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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)



-> SJ