December 6, 2009 - February 4, 2020

Victus!

after “Invictus” by William Earnest Henley

"... for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost …"

Luke 19:10

Out in the Light that covers me,

far from the pit of Hell’s black hole,

I thank the one true God that He

has conquered my rebellious soul.

Beneath the doom of God’s pure stance

I fled and cursed His name aloud.

Yet Christ pursued and bore my lance.

To He Who bled is my head bowed!

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

loomed once the horror of the shade;

yet God stands guardian of the years,

and death shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait His gate,

how charged with punishments His scroll,

He is the Master of my fate;

He is the Saviour of my soul.

In Sunday School this morning (Dec. 6, 2009), during his excellent series on Revelation, Don Symon used William Ernest Henley's poem, "Invictus" as an illustration of the hopelessness of a life that has rejected God. I was moved to write a poem from my own perspective as a Christian, showing the hopefulness of a life that has accepted God in response; shortly afterward, Don introduced us to the poem "The Captain", by Dorothea Day. Through the many hours of editing the dozens of revisions of "Victus!" that followed I have tried to enhance the presentation of the Christian's hope while maintaining the lovely flow of Henley's original.