Out Of The Night That Covers Me
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.
This poem is better known as Invictus and is included here under both names.http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/80509-William-Ernest-Henley-Invictus--The-Unconquerable This is also occasionally known as "I. M. R.T. HAMILTON BRUCE" (I.T. = in memoriam) since Henley often included those words in anthologies including this poem published after Hamilton Bruce died.
