INVICTUS

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 unbow'd.

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.

by William Ernest Henley

Ce poème a accompagné Nelson Mandela, durant ses longues années de prison. Il l'a récité presque tous les jours sinon tous les jours pendant vingt sept ans.
Clint Eastwood en a fait un film.
J'en suis sortie plus que jamais fascinée par cet homme d'une envergure exceptionnelle qui est Nelson Mandela