Invictus by William Ernest Henley

A poem that inspires us to face the difficulties of life. William Ernest Henley lost his father when he was barely a teenager. He suffered from arthritis, and had to get one of his legs amputated (Thanks to Joseph Lister, his other leg was saved miraculously!). These sufferings at such a young age, gave material to his poems. Invictus is one masterpiece that is worth reading again and again when life lets us down.

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

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