Invictus

I love playing around with famous poems. Sometimes I give a famous poem to children and get them to cut up all of the words then select and rearrange some of the words into a new poem. Sometimes I just keep the syllable and rhyme patterns and rewrite. Invictus is a rousing poem used famously in the film of the same name. This poem is about trauma.

My Invictus – apologies to William Ernest Henley
 
Out of the day that defines me,
Summer blue and cloudy sky,
I know in order to be free
That a part of me chose to die
 
In the burden of my shame
I did not tell a living soul
No longer will I take the blame
Not for what they took, but stole
 
Deep in that place of wrath and tears
I will step out from shade,
And let the menace of the years
Inside my head be no longer played
 
I cannot change past behaviour,
But I will strive to be whole,
Only I, can be my saviour,
I will be the healer of my soul.