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Home  »  Familiar Quotations  »  William Ernest Henley 1849-1903 John Bartlett

John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

William Ernest Henley 1849-1903 John Bartlett

 
1
    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.
          To R. T. H. B.
2
    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. 1 
          To R. T. H. B.
3
    Life is (I think) a blunder and a shame.
          In Hospital.
4
          Far in the stillness a cat
Languishes loudly.
          In Hospital.
5
    From the winter’s gray despair,
From the summer’s golden languor,
Death, the lover of Life,
Frees us for ever.
          In Hospital.
 
Note 1.
Arise, O Soul, and gird thee up anew,
  Though the black camel Death kneel at thy gate;
No beggar thou that thou for alms shouldst sue:
  Be the proud captain still of thine own fate.
James Benjamin Kenyon. [back]