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When the world acts upon one in ways one would not otherwise choose, it can induce a challenge to one's sense of safety and rightness. Sometimes these are small experiences that cause frustration or moments of anxiety. Other times, these are more impactful experiences that can shake one's core. In either instance, psyche offers a capacity to meet such challenges, represented here by a poet who was intimately familiar with the life threatening kind of challenge. And while it is no weakness and can be very healthy to "wince and cry aloud", this gentleman found a way to meet life on life's terms:
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, English editor, poet, writer, and critic, who faced a life-long challenge from serious physical health issues. Comments are closed.
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October 2026
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