I lament the wounds of Fortune | I lament the wounds of Fortune

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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Fortune plango vulnera

Language: Latin

Our translations: ENG ITA SPA

Chosen for Diff

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

In Fortune solio
sederam elatus,
prosperitatis vario
flore coronatus;
quicquid tamen 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.

Text Authorship:

by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, appears in Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae, first published c1300 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Carl Orff (1895 - 1982), "Fortune plango vulnera", 1935-6 [ chorus ], from Carmina Burana, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "I lament the wounds of Fortune", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Piango della sorte le offese (Coro)", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Saúl Botero Restrepo) , "Lloro las heridas de la Fortuna", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani

This text was added to the website: 2011-04-24
Line count: 24
Word count: 66

I lament the wounds of Fortune

Language: English after the Latin

Chosen for Diff

I lament the wounds of Fortune
with weeping eyes,
because she rebelliously 
deprives me of her gifts.
What we read is true:
though there is hair on his brow,
most often Opportunity 
has a bald head behind.

On Fortune's throne 
high up I had sat,
crowned with prosperity's
variegated flowers;
however much I flourished,
happy and blessed,
I have now fallen from the summit,
deprived of glory.

The wheel of Fortune turns:
I descend, diminished;
another is raised up;
exalted too far,
a king sits at the very top —
let him beware of falling!
For beneath the axle we read:
Queen Hecuba.

Note for stanza 1, lines 6-8: Opportunity (Kairos to the ancient Greeks) was depicted as bald except for a lock of hair on his forehead. As Opportunity approached, the forelock could be used to seize him; but once he had passed, there was no way to grab him from behind.
Note for stanza 3, line 8: Hecuba, wife of King Priam and mother of Hector, lost everything when Troy fell. She was often invoked to illustrate the fickleness of fate.

Text Authorship:

Translation from Latin to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in Latin by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , appears in Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae, first published c1300
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-09-13
Line count: 24
Word count: 104