Oh Fortuna1
like the moon
your state varies,
always either in ascendancy
or in descendancy;
detestable life
now hard
and then providing
with sharpness of mind in its game,
poverty,
power
reduced like melting ice.
Fate inhuman
and empty,
you ever turning wheel,
evil state,
empty salutation
amounting to nothing,
in shadow
and in veil
you likewise advance upon me;
now with your games
bare-backed am I
by your wickedness.
Personification of health
and virtue
now you are against me,
inclined
or disinclined
always in servitude.
Come, now at this time
without delay
here to the stricken heart;
since luck
strikes down fortune,
everyone lament with me!
1. Roman goddess of fortune/luck