by William Ernest Henley
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.
*Whenever life’s adversities come my way I always keep this poem in mind. But what inspires me more is that writer, William Ernest Henley, was able to survive great adversity– the poem was written from a hospital bed– and even succeeded in life. So whatever it is facing you, something worse is facing someone somewhere, and they are taking it. You can do the same.