Monday, October 24, 2011

I am the captain of my soul

Photoblogging is definitely educational. Not only do we learn from our fellow bloggers, but from those of whom we sneak shots. Take this girl's calves, for example. I liked that she had twin tattoos, and clicked away not really being able to see right away what her skin advertised.

"I am the captain of my soul," I learned from the the Internet and indirectly from this Seattle pedestrian, is the last line of the poem "Invictus," by the English poet, William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). "...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.
"

I also learned from the above link that "At the age of 12, Henley fell victim to tuberculosis of the bone...the disease progressed to his foot, and physicians announced that the only way to save his life was to amputate directly below the knee...Stoicism inspired him to write this poem..."

So, now you've learned something, too.

14 comments:

Olivier said...

deux beaux tatouages et originaux

Luis Gomez said...

Truly a lesson today! Thanks for the post Bibi!

Alexa said...

I certainly have—and I wonder if this person knew the story when she placed the tattoos where she did.

Anonymous said...

Interesting that she would have the same tattoo twice...

Pierre BOYER said...

Great !
Regards from France,

Pierre

Gaelyn said...

And interesting and educational tattoo. You have such a great eye for the unusual.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this story and pic:)

J e l e n a said...

Internet sometimes takes up a lot of my time but there are so many things that I have learned using it. I love this quote. never heard of the poet but I heard the quote.

Bibi, I must tell you something. Yesterday I showed a picture of your grand daughter to my husband and told him the story about your mom coming here. My husband read only one blog post on my blog. he is absolutely not interested in food and cooking and that remains my past time and obsession, but yesterday he spent an hour looking through your blog and all the pictures. He was fascinated by how you see Belgrade and he laughed and laughed at Radovan on the pictures in Greece. Genius! He will follow you daily from now on. He was even trying out to figure out where you live from the pictures from your window and came to a conclusion that it must be near the USA embassy in Kneza Miloša, but there was another picture that made him think that it might not be the place.

Thérèse said...

Alexa has a good point.
This famous poem which inspired Mandela while in prison...

Miss_Yves said...

Certes, il peut y avoir du bon dans les blogs, et dans Internet...
Merci pour cette recherche qui fait connaître ce beau poème !

Daryl said...

I knew all that because we read that poem in English class in H.S. BUT those tats are impressive!

Pat said...

Gosh, Jelena, thanks... My husband never read my blog either! I am flattered yours browsed through my archives, wow.

Lowell said...

This a very nice and educational post. But I think she meant to use the word, "sole," and put the tattoo on the bottom of her foot! Yikes!

Juliette said...

Merci, Bibi !

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