When he was only 12, William Ernest Henley contracted tuberculosis of the bone. Eventually his left foot had to be amputated just below the knee. He spent many years in and out of hospital because the disease also infected his right foot, but he refused to have it amputated as well. He was eventually discharged from hospital after being treated by the famous surgeon Joseph Lister in 1875. When he died in 1903, Henley was only two years younger than I am now. Despite his condition, during one of his lengthy stays in hospital, Henley wrote the poem below. He called it Invictus.
The word means “unconquerable”. Soon it will reverberate throughout South Africa and the world when the Clint Eastwood movie by that name is released. Read the poem as many times as you can before seeing the movie. Memorise it, if you can. It saved my life once. It might do the same for you.
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.
Think about Henley’s words — think about what they mean, to you, to us, to our times. Enjoy the movie. I plan to.
I also plan to enjoy the movie,the trailer was captivating. Know that i read the poem, i rememeber that in the trailer “Madiba” kept repeating the last two lines of the poem. It makes sense now…
High time people in SA realises that last line and stop asking the government, and the tax base, to be the masters of their fate.
Beutiful poem, and looking forward to seeing Matt Damon win the world cup!
That poem is up on my wall and has held a place of honour for many a year…. Good to see others appreciate it as well.
America’s homegrown terrorist Timothy McVeigh chose the poem Invictus, which means “Unconquerable” in Latin, to be his final statement just he was executed for the Oklahoma bombings. McVeigh’s motivations – creeping government totalitarianism. He believed that the US government was waging war against its own citizens exemplified by the raid on the Waco compound in 1993.
Considering your intense frustrations, revealed through your blogs, I can see why you too chose this poem.
Not everyone agrees about the movie’s merits:
http://africasacountry.com/2009/10/28/it-wasnt-rugby/
One-legged Henley couldn’t possibly kick a dropped-goal in extra time, or any time for that matter.
I saw the movie thanks to the wonders of P2P and admit I’m biased. Matt Damon & Morgan Freeman are unconvincing, but Eastwood has touched on some of the spirit.
One thing’s indisputable – they’ll never make a movie of next year’s blort-in-the-wings. Unless, of course, the terrorists succeed with their plans. Then 2010 will be remembered for the same reasons the 1988 Munich Olympics are – and with such a surfeit of targets and paucity of SA intelligence & security intellectual muscle it’s highly like any one of the 22-odd groups from al-Qaeda down will succeed. WTS – maybe Dave Harris has his own plans a la his hero Tim McVeigh …
Au contraire! Both you and Tim McVeigh have the same vinegar coursing through your veins, hence the unusual affinity to the poem and hatred of government.
In spite of your relentless dissing of SA and your doom and gloom predictions of the 2010 WC, the realization the the black SA government is moving our progressive society forward and that the 2010 WC looks to be a resounding success story sends you into a tailspin…LOL
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