Through fields of fire
and cooling mists
I approach the end of my days
my steps are steady
in these moments of grace
shadows now creeping
circling me like prey
but I feel no fear
I welcome their soft caress
I have lived my life
with no regrets
with unyielding honour
and my cup runneth over
but the hands of my clock
are calling time
unable to complete the circle
I have made the choice
Satis vixi
(I have lived long enough)
Invictus enim morior
(I die unvanquished)
© Ann Bagnall
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Inspired by ‘Invictus’
by William Ernest Henley 1875
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.
Annie's Poetry 