I Am the Captain of My Soul

I have to thank my friend Adam Dyal for posting this poem on his blog. Until I saw the movie Invictus tonight, did I fully appreciate the power of this poem, and what I can do with it in my own life. Powerful words. The last two lines are my favorite.

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 bludgeoning 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