The meter, if any, from the line is ?
a waste of breath the years behind

Yes, there is a meter to this line.
Given that there are 8 syllables in this line, that would mean this is a tetrameter. One meter consists of 2 syllables, so if there are 8 syllables in a line, that would mean there are 4 meters, which in literature is called a tetrameter.
Also, when you take into consideration the unstressed and stressed syllables, you see that here the sequence goes: unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed, etc. which are qualities of iamb.
So, this line is written in iambic tetrameter.