POEM issued by McVeigh before his execution

<br>Here is the poem Timothy McVeigh issued before his execution instead of making an oral statement. The 1875 ``Invictus'' by William Ernest Henley, a 19th-century British editor and poet, is

Monday, June 11th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Here is the poem Timothy McVeigh issued before his execution instead of making an oral statement. The 1875 ``Invictus'' by William Ernest Henley, a 19th-century British editor and poet, is an ode to strength in the face of suffering.

``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

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.