Put of the night that covers me, <br />Black as the Pit from pole to pole, <br />I thank whatever gods may be <br />For my unconquerable soul. <br /> <br />In the full clutch of circumstances <br />I have not winced nor cried aloud. <br />Under the bludgeonings of chance <br />My head is bloody, but unbowed. <br /> <br />Beyond this place of wrath and tears <br />Looms but the Horror of the shade, <br />And yet the menace of the years <br />Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. <br /> <br />It matters not how straight the gate, <br />How charged with punishments the scroll, <br />I am the master of my fate: <br />I am the captain of my soul.<br /><br />William Ernest Henley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/unconquerable-3/
