Invictus

just had this added to my repertoire (the photos only do it half-justice). i will also be adding the word Invictus ('unconquered/able') underneath.


in the recent season of difficulty in my family, my dad was told that his sons "stood like four lions through it all... unflinching", and that he would "pity anyone who tried to come between them"...

i had this drawn up from the rembrandt sketch below which is called "lion resting". i thought that it captured the essence of the statement and would be a meaningful representation of the experience. my dad and brothers are also talking about getting lion tattoos, each expressing his own vision.

Invictus
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.