Out of the night which 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 straight the gate, How charged wuth punishment the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul!