CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE   (1558?-1586)

"My prime of youth is but a frost of cares"

Little is known about Chidiock Tichborne. He is believed to have been born in Southampton around 1558, into a family that fervently supported the Roman Catholic Church. In 1586, Tichborne joined a conspiracy to murder Queen Elizabeth I and restore Catholicism in England. When the conspiracy was discovered, Tichborne was imprisoned in the Tower of London. At his trial, he pled guilty and was sentenced to death for treason. On the night before his execution, he wrote a letter to his wife Agnes which included the strange and haunting poem that begins "My prime of youth is but a frost of cares." The autobiographical aspect of the poem adds to its already fantastical and macabre quality. One wishes that the Queen could have forgiven Tichborne. The Renaissance could have used a poet of such originality and freshness.
 
"My prime of youth is but a frost of cares"

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 fallen, 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.