December 2009
15 posts
Prince | International Lover
…Because a handsome man named Pedro agreed to let me practice my dilapidated Spanish with him. Rarrr.
Jay-Z | Early This Morning
….Because, as a get-up-and-get-‘em song, it still works.
(Technically, this isn’t the first one, but it’s damn sure the biggest.)
Note: This is the poem alluded to in the new Clint Eastwood/Matt Damon/Morgan Freeman movie, which is based on the success of the South African rugby team during the years immediately following apartheid. The poem itself served as a source of inspiration and strength for Nelson Mandela throughout his 27 years in prison.
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.
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 strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.