Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever Gods there 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.

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