Invictus
 
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     5
 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,  10
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:  15
 I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley. 1849–1903
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When I have Fears that I may cease to be
 
WHEN I have fears that I may cease to be 
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain, 
Before high pil`d books, in charact'ry, 
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain; 
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,     5
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, 
And feel that I may never live to trace 
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance; 
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour! 
That I shall never look upon thee more,  10
Never have relish in the faery power 
Of unreflecting love;—then on the shore 
 Of the wide world I stand alone, and think, 
 Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.  John Keats. 1795–1821
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 Things

There are worse things than having behaved foolishly in public.
There are worse things than these miniature betrayals, committed or endured or suspected; there are worse things than not being able to sleep for thinking about them.
It is 5 a.m. All the worse things come stalking in and stand icily about the bed looking worse and worse and worse.
Fleur Adcock
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I'll add more soon