by Alfred Tennyson, Lord (1809 - 1892)

It chanced the song that Enid sang was...
Language: English 
Available translation(s): DUT FRI
[It chanced the song that Enid sang was one
Of Fortune and her wheel, and Enid sang:]1

'Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel and lower the proud;
Turn thy wild wheel through sunshine, storm, and cloud;
Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate.

'Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel with smile or frown;
With that wild wheel we go not up or down;
Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great.

'Smile and we smile, the lords of many lands;
Frown and we smile, the lords of our own hands;
For man is man and master of his fate.

'Turn, turn thy wheel above the staring crowd;
Thy wheel and thou are shadows in the cloud;
Thy wheel and thee we neither love nor hate.'

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1 omitted in most settings; included in Richmond's.

Authorship

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

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

  • FRI Frisian (Geart van der Meer) , copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Geart van der Meer) , copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-04-21
Line count: 14
Word count: 126