Invictus

The movie Invictus was in theaters just before I left South Africa and in the busyness of my return home, plus Christmas, I didn't get a chance to see it until now (yeah for DVD's!). #1 - it made me miss South Africa SO much! It was so great to hear the accent again. And for those of you who have traveled to any part of Africa, you understand that its countries and its people just have a way of staying with you. We lived close to a township and I especially loved the scene in the movie when the rugby team went to visit a township. #2 - it helped me understand, in better context, some of the issues that South Africans face each and every day. What a daunting task Nelson Mandela had in front of him with the apartheid behind and a new South Africa ahead.

Invictus
(Latin for "unconquered")
by: William Ernest Henley

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.