Pange melos lacrimosum (Anonymous)

Pange melos lacrimosum,
Lacrimans elegia:
Tempus venit planctuosum,
Tempus fraudans gaudia.
Ad eclipsim nox meroris
Obliquat spectacula:
Regnet dolor, nam doloris
Causa stat in specula.
Rheni sidus in occasus
Latium precipitat;
Stella cadit, stelle casus
Terras umbra limitat.
Latet vere Latialis
Plaga, timens oculum,
Nox est culpe socialis,
Crimen querit angulum.
O quam probans argumentum
Que sit mundi falsitas!
Quid sit mundus, per eventum
Syllogizat veritas:
Ioculatur in iacturis,
Constans inconstantia:
Mors, tremendi princeps iuris,
Regnat sine gratia.

Compose a tearful melody,
weeping in elegy;
a time for lamentation has come,
a time that steals joys.
At this eclipse sorrow’s night
distorts what we see;
Let sadness rule, for the
cause of sorrow stands in the watchtower.
The star of the Rhine
casts Latium into ruins;
the star tumbles, and the star’s fall
holds the lands in darkness.
The truly Italian region
lies concealed, afraid to be seen,
For darkness is the friend of sin
and crime seeks his old haunt.
O what a definitive demonstration
of the falsity of the world!
Through experience Truth proves
what the world is;
it delights in disasters
and is constant in its inconstancy;
Death, the prince of this terrible law,
rules without pity.