stumbled up on this Victorian poem by accident recently. I haven't seen Invictus, actually had no idea where the title of that movie even came from. But I'm all over it now; queued up in Netflix! (Take a look at this clip, and I bet it will be in your Netflix queue too if you haven't already seen it.)A little research about the origins of the poem led me to the video below of Leonard Cohen; he's got a great voice for these lines, for sure.
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 Earnest Henley
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Love the poem. But am waiting to get away from 6th grade math homework to watch both clips. When oh when will 6th grade math homework end?
ReplyDeletesending love
ReplyDeletefrom my captain
to yours. xo
Love that poem and had pulled it out again when I saw Invictus lately. Excellent story...thanks for this reminder. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteOk, just re-read that poem and now I am crying. This rings way too true for life as 'we' know it. But what courage, what strength, what beauty.
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