This is going to be my epitaph.
I discovered this poem years ago, but for some reason have thought about it a lot recently....
'Invictus' by William Ernest Henley. 1849–1903
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 or cried aloud
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbow'd.
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
( Before anyone says it, I am very well aware that Tim McVeigh used the last stanza as his final statement at his execution...)
...as far as I'm concerned, these are words to live by.