Invictus
Words by William Ernest Henley, answered by Orson F. Whitney; music by Kevin Ball with Suno. Produced with Suno.
The story
Invictus is the title track of my album of timeless poems set to music. It pairs William Ernest Henley's Invictus with Orson F. Whitney's answer, The Soul's Captain, two of my favorite poems.
I first set them as a quiet folk song, The Captain of Thy Soul, on In His Presence. Here they return as a dramatic orchestral ballad. Henley's courage is real, and I admire it. Whitney's answer is the one I've come to believe: free will is ours, but we answer unto Him to whom all souls belong.
Kevin
Lyrics
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.
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.
Art thou in truth? Then what of Him
Who bought thee with His blood?
Who plunged into devouring seas
And snatched thee from the flood,
Men are as bubbles on the wave,
As leaves upon the tree,
Thou, captain of thy soul! Forsooth,
Who gave that place to thee?
Free will is thine- free agency,
To wield for right or wrong;
But thou must answer unto Him
To whom all souls belong.
Bend to the dust that “head unbowed,”
Small part of life’s great whole,
And see in Him and Him alone,
The captain of thy soul.