up:: legacy, lessons jump:: down::
Invictus
I was introduced to the following poem in a high school English course. It’s since become a staple of my identity and existence and I wish to share it with you.
Invictus | The Poetry Foundation
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 HenleyMy interpretation is that,
Mr. Henley lays on his death bed and his life flashes before his eyes.
He’s pondering the choices he’s made and the life that he’s lived. He stares at the face of death and says I have no regrets. I lived my life as I wanted, how I saw, of my own will. I made my own decisions and now I lie in the bed I made. Or something like that.
He tells of his hardships and struggles that surrounded him. He warns of the dangers of letting the darkness win. He shows that no matter the circumstances, there is always something you can do.
I especially adore the ending
I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.
As it highlights the ever-endearing mindset that we have free will and control over the lives we ultimately live.
No other piece of media has impacted my life nearly as much as this single sentence beacuse
It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll,
I will always have control over myself, my actions and decisions, the consequences of those and the direction my life is/has headed.