My prime of youth is but a frost of cares,
My feast of joy is but a dish of pain,
My crop of corn is but a field of tares,
And all my good is but vain hope of gain.
The day is gone and I yet I saw no sun,
And now I live, and now my life is done.
The spring is past, and yet it hath not sprung,
In sixteenth century English this means that the ‘good’ done by the speaker in his life is ‘in vain’; in effect he has failed, his efforts pointless.
Tichbornes Elegy