Mater Invictus
Life two days gone is gone forever,
But tales from once upon a time
Still cherished and shared.
Laundry, pill bottles and mail threaten
To overtake the world; dust thickens
And crocheting begs attention.
The weary old woman she didn't see
Sneaking up on her now smiles
Comfortably in the mirror. She is still herself.
Quoting Shakespeare, loving God, laughing,
At new jokes and jokes made new
Thanks to fading memory.
And just now, she called to mind this poem
By William Ernest Henely, "Invictus,"
Memorized in her youth, now freshly full
Of meaning in a whole new light.
Rock on Mama-san!
M. Eileen Lawter July 2014
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 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 1849–1903
