Invictus, by William Ernest Henley

Two days away from the biggest match of the hockey season, and my stomach is coiling with tension.

So close to glory, so far from reality

So dexterous and so boisterous, so naive and so plain,

So assured and so upright, so humble and so fragile

To merit we trek, to the glory of an earnest fight.

Hope's a tangent we beseech, for our goal remains within our reach.

AMK, inspired by the words and wizardry of William Ernest Henley.

Invictus (Latin for "Unconquered")

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.