Other People's Poetry - Elegy for Himself by Chidiock Tichborne

Elegy For Himself


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 past, and yet I saw no sun;
And now I live, and now my life is done.

My tale was heard, and yet it was not told;
 My fruit is fall'n, and yet my leaves are green;
My youth is spent, and yet I am not old;
 I saw the world, and yet I was not seen:
My thread is cut, and yet it is not spun;
And now I live, and now my life is done.

I sought my death, and found it in my womb;
 I looked for life, and saw it was a shade;
I trod the earth, and knew it was my tomb;
 And now I die, and now I was but made:
My glass is full, and now my glass is run;
And now I live, and now my life is done.


~ Chidiock Tichborne (1586)

Nothing like an executed Elizabethan poet to make you feel better about your own life, eh?