INVICTUS

INVICTUS
(Latin for Unconquerable)

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.

William Ernest Henley (1849 – 1903)

This is the poem I'd like to share with my friends as my meditation tutor shared it with us last Tuesday night. this poem is about COURAGE that tutor told us Nelson Mandela reading this poem everyday when he was in prison for 26 years. it kept him going with his spirit still high.

When him stepped out of prison and was made president of South Africa, he was able to forgive the whites, and there is another courage he has shown. It is the courage to forgive.

WWII wartime England Prime Minister Winston Churchill interprets courage as:"from failure to failure courage is about not losing enthusiasm".

Of course, I thought of Prince Siddhata when he renounced the luxurious palace life to step into unknown. isn't it the biggest courage he has shown to us? Courage together with his love and passion.