In the secret halls they made
With violence as their trade
Behind curtain, beyond charade
In whispers, they say
Pain, you've seen it all
You stagger and fall
But after the fight
You're into the light
The deeper you go
The further you get
Try as you might
You're into the light
The carrot and the stick
The walls, so thick
The prison of today
With malice, they say
Out of 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 straight the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate
And I am the captain of my soul
