Invictus
-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.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Invictus
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1 comment:
Hi, stumbled upon your blog. Just some thoughts on these bold words of the poet.
It is amazing how many millions of people worship themselves. The bold words of the poem show -
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
That is worship of self.
We like to think we have a godlike ability to control our own destinies. See how he ends his poem with these defiant lines:
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul
It is a satanic lie that a human being is master of his or her own fare. No human being runs his own life or controls his own destiny.
This veil is the delusion that we are adequate to handle life by ourselves, that independent sense of pride which says, "I don't need any help; I can handle it by myself; I need no religious crutch; I don't need a savior."
Humanity is not God. We were not made to exist on our own. We were made to belong to someone else. When God says, "I have set you apart from the nations to be my own," He is telling us what our purpose is, what we were created to be--God's own people, a people who belong to Him.
God's blessings.
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