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.

William Ernest Henley

Woke up with Walking on Sunshine, by Katrina and the Waves in my head. It has been raining for about four days and the sun came out this morning. After this I'm going for a long walk. I'm playing the song as I write this. I never really liked the song all that much, but it sounds good this morning. Went to see Invictus yesterday. I looked up the poem and read the background. The man who wrote it, wrote it from his hospital bed after he had his leg amputated. Nelson Mandela supposedly had it on his prison cell for 27 years in South Africa. Turns out he actually gave another poem by Theodore Roosevelt to the team captain, Francoise. I woke in the middle of the night with gratitude and thanking God for all that I have. It is so easy to focus on the part that is not there in the glass. I have so much. My cousin is working with families that are sleeping in their cars. I'm going to make gingerbread this morning. I love the smell of it baking.