O Fortuna

[robinbanks]

Lyrics to O Fortuna from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff


O Fortuna
velut luna
statu variabilis,
semper crescis
aut decrescis;
vita detestabilis
nunc obdurat
et tunc curat
ludo mentis aciem,
egestatem,
potestatem
dissolvit ut glaciem.

Sors immanis
et inanis,
rota tu volubilis,
status malus,
vana salus
semper dissolubilis,
obumbrata
et velata
michi quoque niteris;
nunc per ludum
dorsum nudum
fero tui sceleris.

Sors salutis
et virtutis
michi nunc contraria,
est affectus
et defectus
semper in angaria.
Hac in hora
sine mora
corde pulsum tangite;
quod per sortem
sternit fortem,
mecum omnes plangite!
O Fortune,
like the moon
you are changeable
ever waxing
and waning;
hateful life
first oppresses
and then soothes
as fancy takes it;
poverty,
power,
they melt like ice.

Fate, monstrous
and empty,
you whirling wheel,
you are malevolent,
well-being is vain
and always fades to nothing;
shadowed
and veiled,
you plague me too;
now through the game
I bring my bare back
to your villainy.

Fate is against me
in health
and virtue,
driven on
and weighted down,
always enslaved.
So at this hour,
without delay,
pluck the vibrating strings;
since Fate
strikes down the string-player;
weep with me now!