ANOTHER POEM TO MULL OVER

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 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






I heard this poem at the beginning of the six nations rugby this Saturday (20th March) being read by Morgan Freeman and it sent tingles down my spine with the context it was delivered in. A such I would like to experiment with alternative film subjects using this very same poem.

Bye the way - this poem is said to have been repeated by Nelson Mandela while he was imprisoned on Robben Island.