Within the fastness of my loving mind,
All are opposed, to wit, Heaven, fire and wind,
Water and earth, and she that doth me scorn!
They are my foes; 'twere better I should mourn
My rashness, and the enterprise begun
Abandon. But the impulse who can shun
Of ruthless fate, by Love's persistence torn?
Though Heaven on high, though Love, though wind and fire,
Water and earth, and even my fair foe,
Each one, with might, and with my fate allied,