the struggle comes to nothing

The empty heart comes home from a busy day at the office.
And what is the empty heart to do but empty itself of empti-
ness. Sweeping out the unsweepable takes an effort of mind,
the fruitless exertion of faculties already burdened. Poor empty
heart, old before its time, how it struggles to do what the mind
tells it to do. But the struggle comes to nothing. The empty
heart cannot do what the mind commands. It sits in the dark,
daydreams, and the emptiness grows.

[Mark Strand, 'Exhaustion at Sunset', from Almost Invisible]