2025 NaPM 15 April

[busker]

Falstaff and fortune's fool

The wheel of fortune, and Falstaff on it -
spin fortune's wheel for Falstaff!
I shudder at the thought of that itinerant wit
falling from it -
the brightest star of a Tudor court,
gayest ship in port -
sunk in the sea, in the belly of the sea,
O fortune's fool, that Falstaff!

The wheel of fortune, and Falstaff on it -
O! the wheel of fortune for Falstaff!
Slipped and fallen from where he would sit,
down to unlit
waters, wrapped in his coat -
drowned in a doublet for want of a boat.
Now he is free in the belly of the sea,
O fear fortune, like Falstaff!