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.

Anyone who has heard this poem before is probably familiar with it through the recent film Invictus with Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman, directed by Clint Eastwood. Those who haven't seen the film, it is a story involving Nelson Mandela and 1995 Springbok rugby captain Francois Pienaar (Nelson preaches this poem to him as inspiration; South Africa hosts the World Cup in '95, Mandela has hopes of the country's underdog team winning and bringing a post-Apartheid nation together.)
Whether you did or didn't know these things about the film, the more interesting story behind this poem comes from the poet's life. William Henley, an Englishman, got tuberculosis of the bone at a young age, and by the time he was 25, had to have his leg amputated just below the knee in order to save his life. He wrote this poem in 1875 from a hospital bed; fortunately Henley did make it to the age of 53 and after his death this poem has motivated many, including Nelson Mandela, and the prisoners of Robben Island (he would recite the poem to them.) Its creed of self-mastery is said to have kept him going all those years in prison.

He who controls others may be powerful
but he who has mastered himself is mightier still
 -Lao Tzu-