Orff: o fortuna
O Fortuna O Fortune velut luna like the moon
Statu variabilis, you are changeable
Semper crescis ever waxing
Aut decrescis and waning
Vita detestabilis hateful life
Nunc obdurat first oppresses
Et tunc curat and then soothes
Ludo mentis aciem, as fancy takes it
Egestatem, poverty potestatem and power
Dissolvit ut glaciem it melts them like ice
Sors immanis Fate - monstrous
Et inanis, and empty
Rota tu volubilis, you whirling wheel
Status malus, you are malevolent
Vana salus well-being is vain
Semper dissolubilis
And always fades to nothing
Obumbrata shadowed et velata and veiled
Michi quoque niteris you plague me too
Nunc per ludum now through the game
Dorsum nudum I bring my bare back
Fero tui sceleris to your villainy
Sors salutis Fate is against me
Et virtutis in health
Michi nunc contraria, and virtue
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 strings
Quod per sortem since Fate
Sternit fortem, strikes down the string man
Mecum omnes plangite! everyone weep with me!