₦airaland Forum

Hi friends,
I have a very powerful poem to share with you. It was written by William Ernest Henley in 1875 and I know many of us have read or heard of it before. What I don't know is whether you took some time to think about it.



This poem is referred to by Napoleon Hill in his famous classic, Think and grow rich. It is the inspiration for former US president Theodore Roosevelt's famous 'man in the arena' speech (a passage in CITIZENSHIP IN A REPUBLIC a speech the President delivered at the Sorbonne Paris, France, April 23, 1910)

The primary message of the poem to me is this: THAT NO MATTER WHAT OUR PRESENT SITUATION OR CIRCUMSTANCES MIGHT BE, WE ARE THE MASTERS OF OUR FAITH, WE ARE THE CAPTAINS OF OUR SOUL!

Holding on to this believe causes us to take responsibility for our lives. We don't allow our lives to be determined by the Government, our parents, our religion, our background, our environment, our friends, our spouse, our siblings,etc. Many today blame someone and something else for the situations in their lives! This attitude robbs you of the power to create your own life. To see a dream life and to pursue it with determination that does not recognise failure but faith and persistence. Doing everyday the best you can to advance you in the direction of your dreams without violating the rights of others or the laws of God.
Let us see the words of this poem as written 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."

How do you feel reading those words?
See Theodore Roosevelt's man in the arena which is an offshoot of Henley's invictus:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

William Ernest Henley's invictus was recited by Nelson Mandela to other prisoners in Robben Island while he was incarcerated there and its message of self mastery empowered the freedom fighter.
See more here: http://successsecrets01..com/2016/07/the-famous-poem-invictus-by-william.html