Invictus

I was reading another friend's worthwhile thoughts on Invictus yesterday, and reminded again of both the beauty of the poem, and its aptness for tough times, which there seem to be ever so many more of than when we were children. I find myself laughing at my childhood frustration of the all knowing adults laughing at our small traumas and saying they wish they could be children again because being an adult wasn't all it was cracked up to be:-P Anyway, below is the text of Invictus by William Ernest Henley courtesy of Wikipedia...

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.

Also, if you haven't read the John Carlin book behind the movie Invictus (duel titled Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation and also, Invictus), I would highly recommend it. The book is able to go into much greater detail about the history behind and significance of the players, both politically and in the sport, than the movie. While the movie was good, it didn't sing in the same way that the book did.