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,
Beyond the earthly suffering that he experiences lies no other menace but death which, by comparison, is not such a great horror after all. 
 “Shade” refers to the gloom of the underworld, if one takes this in the Greek sense, or more likely the Christian idea of hell. It can also refer literally to a ghost. 
 
 However, “the horror of the shade” (preceded by “but,” as in “merely”) is probably not meant to suggest a hell or terrifying afterlife. Rather, it suggests that yes, this world is a hard place, and there is nothing comforting in the afterlife; the idleness of eternal rest is hardly a gift or something to look forward to.
Invictus