Out of the night that covers me,
Black as pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable sole.

In the fell clutches of circumstances
I have not vinced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horrer of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how straight the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul

(a poem by William Earnest Henley)

Invictus : The poem that inspired Nelson Mandela and his comrades whilst imprisoned on Robben Island.