Invictus

This is a poem by William Ernest Henley that I had to learn in my high school English class.  The last two lines had a profound influence on my thinking and how I have viewed my life since then.

 Invictus

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.