Fortune plango vulnera Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi by Carl Orff Lyrics

Latina

[Coro]

Fortune plango vulnera
stillantibus ocellis
quod sua mihi munera
subtrahit rebellis.
Verum est, quod legitur,
fronte capillata,
sed plerumque sequitur
Occasio calvata.
Verum est, quod legitur,
fronte capillata,
sed plerumque sequitur
Occasio calvata.

In Fortune solio
sederam elatus,
prosperitatis vario
flore coronatus;
quisquid enim florui
felix et beatus,
nunc a summo corrui
gloria privatus.
Quisquid enim florui
felix et beatus,
nunc a summo corrui
gloria privatus.
Fortune rota volvitur:
descendo minoratus;
alter in altum tollitur;
nimis exaltatus
rex sedet in vertice
caveat ruinam!
Nam sub axe legimus
Hecubam reginam.
Rex sedet in vertice
caveat ruinam!
Nam sub axe legimus
Hecubam reginam.

In English

[Chorus]

I bemoan the wounds of Fortune
with weeping eyes,
for the gifts she made me
she perversely takes away.
It is written in truth,
that she has a fine head of hair,
but, when it comes to seizing an opportunity,
she is bald.
On Fortune's throne
I used to sit raised up,
crowned with
the many-colored flowers of prosperity;
though I may have flourished,
happy and blessed
now I fall from the peak
deprived of glory.

The wheel of Fortune turns:
I go down, demeaned;
another is raised up;
far too high up
sits the king at the summit --
let him fear ruin!
for under the axis is written
Queen Hecuba.