O Fortuna
Oh! Fortuna!
velut luna
like the moon
statu variabilis,
your state varies,
semper crescis
always either in ascendancy
aut decrescis;
or in descendancy;
vita detestabilis
detestable life
nunc obdurat
now hard
et tunc curat
and then providing
ludo mentis aciem,
with sharpness of mind in its game,
egestatem,
poverty,
potestatem
power
dissolvit ut glaciem.
dissolved like melting ice.
Sors immanis
Fate – monstrous
et inanis,
and empty,
rota tu volubilis,
you ever turning wheel,
status malus,
evil state,
vana salus
empty salutation
semper dissolubilis,
amounting to nothing,
obumbrata
in shadow
et velata
and in veil
michi quoque niteris;
you likewise advance upon me;
nunc per ludum
now with your games
dorsum nudum
bare-backed am I
fero tui sceleris.
by your wickedness.
Sors salutis
Fate, in health
et virtutis
and in virtue,
michi nunc contraria,
is against me,
est affectus
driven on
et defectus
and weighted down,
semper in angaria.
always enslaved.
Hac in hora
So at this hour
sine mora
without delay
corde pulsum tangite;
pluck the vibrating string;
quod per sortem
since Fate
sternit fortem,
strikes down the strong man,
mecum omnes plangite!
everyone weep with me!
From David Parlett’s translation of Carmina Burana
http://www.davpar.eu/cburana/cb2fort.html
O how Fortune, inopportune,
apes the moon’s inconstancy:
waxing, waning, losing, gaining,
life treats us detestably:
first oppressing then caressing
shifts us like pawns in its play:
destitution, restitution,
melting them like ice away.
Fate, as vicious as capricious,
you’re a wheel whirling around:
evil doings, worthless wooings,
crumble away to the ground:
darkly stealing, unrevealing,
working against me you go:
for your measure of foul pleasure
bare-backed I bow to your blow.
Noble actions, fair transactions,
no longer fall to my lot:
powers that make me only to break me
all play their parts in your plot:
now it’s your time – waste no more time,
pluck these poor strings and let go:
since the strongest fall the longest
may the world share in my woe!