Once I sat high up

on Fortune's throne,

garlanded with all the blooms of prosperity;

indeed I was in the bloom

of blessed happiness,

but now I have tumbled from my eminence,

robbed of my glory.

* * *

Fortune's wheel turns:

I am cut down and fall;

another is raised to the heights;

the king sits at the peak,

too much exalted -

let him beware of ruin,

for under the axle we read

the name of Queen Hecuba.

* * *

Fortuna Plango Vulnera

(Seria LXXVII - fol. 48b)

Carmina Burana