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.