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.
Dark.
ReplyDeleteNow I see his confidence. Source on Henley
"The Gloucester-born poet William Henley is perhaps best known as the inspiration behind the literary figure Long John Silver in Treasure Island. He was close friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, with whom he wrote three plays in the 1890s. While he was still a boy, Henley’s life was threatened after he developed tuberculosis of the bone. As the disease progressed, he had one of his legs amputated just below the knee. When physicians suggested his other leg be amputated, Henley sought alternative treatment. He was admitted to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where he was treated by Joseph Lister, using his antiseptic surgical methods. Over the next few years, Lister eventually saved Henley’s leg, and possibly his life."