The Earth Is Such

What is the gold of all this world but dross?
by Nicholas Breton

What is the gold of all this world but dross?
The joy but sorrow, and the pleasure pain;
The wealth but beggary, and the gain but loss;
The wit but folly, and the virtue vain;
The power but weakness, and but death the life;
The hope but fear, and the assurance doubt;
The trust deceit, the concord but a strife,
Where one conceit doth put another out;
Time but an instant, and the use a toil;
The knowledge blindness, and the care a madness,
The silver lead, the diamond but a foil,
The rest but trouble, and the mirth but sadness?
Thus, since to heaven compared, the earth is such,
What thing is man to love the world so much?