The "In Memory Of Dr. John D. Eshleman" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading a popular poem from the late nineteenth century by the Victorian era English poet and author William Ernest Henley titled "Invictus".  The word is Latin for "unconquered" and the speaker in the poem proclaims his strength in the face of adversity.   The poem was written in 1875 and published in 1888 in his first volume of poems, Book of Verses, in the section Life and Death (Echoes).  Now, the reason why I became interested in this particular poem was the fact that I saw it as part of an obituary in the Lancaster Newspaper this morning.  It was the ending of an obituary for a very well respected doctor in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Doctor John D. Eshleman.  After reading the poem and learning about the author, I began to understand why it was the final part of the Doctor's obituary.   William Ernest Henley was born in Gloucester in 1849 and was the oldest of six children to Mary and Joseph Henley.  At the age of 12 he suffered from tuberculosis of the bone that caused an amputation of his left leg below the knee.  His early life was punctuated by periods of extreme pain.  The one-legged Henley was the inspiration for Rober Louis Stevenson's character Long John Silver.  Being that the poem was part of the Life and Death section of Henley's first volume of poems, it was a perfect choice to end the obituary of Lancaster's well-respected Doctor.  Just before the poem by Henley in the obituary was a note that read: In place of flowers or condolences, the family adds that you please consider paying it forward by doing something kind for someone else.  Then the following ended the stirring obituary:

"Invictus"

By William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquering soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance,

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeoning 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.

William Ernest Henley

It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.