I recently sat with an old soul friend of mine over a cup of hot chocolate and he recited me this poem that I posted on Facebook in 2011. Invictus by William Ernest Henley is the anthem for all survivors who have claimed victory over their fears, their predators, their demons. I find words and different media works coming back into my life when I most need them.
I am listening… I am listening
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.
