New Year's Day

From My Mother’s Poetry Notebook: Oxenham’s New Year’s Day

MARY LOUISE HOOLEY-CARLISLE·FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016

Each man is captain of his soul,

And chooses his own crew;

But the Pilot knows the unknown seas,

And he will bring us through.

~ John Oxenham

Mom typed out only the above verse, but I thought I had heard this before so I looked it up. Oxenham wrote a longer poem which can be found here: http://www.readbookonline.net/readO...

But it also reminded me of another poet’s exploration/interpretation of a similar theme. William Ernest Henley wrote “Invictus” which uses similar imagery but really gives a message rather opposite to Oxenham’s. Text and background info can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invic...

I remember one of Mom’s brother’s reciting both these poems. I wonder if she shared with him or him with her, or if Grandma or Grandpa Troyer enjoyed poetry and this was a family favorite? I think it’s most likely Mom shared with Uncle Omar.