OUT of the night that covers me,Black as the Pit from pole to pole,I thank whatever gods may beFor my unconquerable soul.In the fell clutch of circumstanceI have not winced nor cried aloud.Under the bludgeonings of chanceMy head is bloody, but unbowed.Beyond this place of wrath and tearsLooms but the Horror of the shade,And yet the menace of the yearsFinds, 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 · Poems
Courage & motivation
“OUT of the night that covers me,”
- Author
- William Ernest Henley
- Work
- Poems
- Year
- 1888
- Chapter / part
- Invictus (Echoes, IV)
- Length
- 103 words
- Source
- Project Gutenberg eBook #1568
Public domain. This passage is in the public domain. William Ernest Henley died in 1903, more than 70 years ago, and the work was first published in 1888. You can copy, print, read aloud or sell it without asking permission; a credit is kind but not required. The text is copied word for word from the Project Gutenberg edition linked here.
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