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 hope that you agree with me that this is a great poem but that poetry is like beauty-in the eye of the beholder. One can interpret the poem in several different ways. I personally think that what he is saying is that he didn’t understand that his thoughts created his reality and ended up with lack & limitation but then someone turned on the lights and he saw the promise, the possibility and the prosperity so he says ‘bring it’ because I’ve got this whipped!

So even if you don’t see what I see in this poem you still have to agree with the last two lines-you are completely and solely responsible for who and what you are.