When I am down and feeling so low, I read this poem, titled “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley, over and over again and it kind of uplifts my spirit a bit.

Invictus

By William Ernest Henley

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.

Henley graduated from Oxford with honors despite his debilitating bone disease that caused his leg to be amputated.

Invictus is Latin for “unconquered”.