With all the chaos going on in the world at the present time, while the Brits fearfully contemplate the consequences of Brexit, while the US President appears to come closer day by day to being impeached, to the agony of Syria, of Africa, and the abuse suffered suffered by black, female politicians, (just to name a few items from today's news) I really need poetry.
Like this one, which inspired Nelson Mandela and provided the title of the wonderful film about him.
INVICTUS by 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.
Like this one, which inspired Nelson Mandela and provided the title of the wonderful film about him.
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| William Ernest Henley, Wikimedia Commons |
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.
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