Poem: "Invictus" By William Ernest Henley (1849 - 1902)

Nelson Mandela had this poem taped to a wall in his cell on Robben Island prison.

               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.  

Morgan Freeman recites the poem on Charlie Rose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7q_vACVwq0