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.

INVICTUS1
A poem by: William Ernest Henley
Appears on: The liner notes of the albums, Invictus (Means) Unconquered-1981
& Invictus (Means) Unconquered/Tennessee Whiskey (Double CD)-1995.
1Invictus is Latin for “unconquered.”

UNCONQUERED
A poem written by: David Allan Coe
Appears on: The liner notes of the albums, Invictus (Means) Unconquered-1981
& Invictus (Means) Unconquered/Tennessee Whiskey (Double CD)-1995.

You've taken the horse and rode it.
(Oh! Society.)
You've broken the lion and made it jump
Through rings of fire.
I've seen the tiger purr like a kitten,
(Oh! Ringmaster.)
At the end of your whip hand.
Why then,
Do I go unconquered?

Find more similar lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.com/VCPoAh! To those crumbled shattered minds,
(Oh! Warden.)
In your mental institutions and prisons.
Your shock treatments are so cold.
I've lived in your holes, like a rat
In the sewers of some city.
(Oh! Judge.)
Counting the days to freedom.
But yet!
I still go, unconquered.

I welcome your ridicule and persecutions,
(Oh! Preacher.)
For I am the lamb you slaughtered.
Time and time again in the name of righteousness,
(Oh! Sinner.)
My sould will never be as scarred
As my body.
For I am!
Still unconquered.

My songs have been written off,
(Oh! Critic.)
As the ramblings of some hicksville prophet,
Lost in the discount bins, of some 5 and 10 cent store.
(Oh! God.)
How much longer!
Can I stay unconquered.

For I am as wild as the law will let me be,
And as ruthless as time permits.
Asking no quarter and giving none,
Dealing with all the devil throws my way,
And thanking whatever gods may be,
For my unconquerable soul.
For I am the 'Invictus'
Of my musical generation.
I am unconquered.
My name is David Allan Coe.
(It's all I have to be proud of.)