V. Otro Mēxihcatlamelāuhcāyōtl
Zaniyoh in xōchitl tonequimilōl,
zaniyoh in cuīcatl īc huehuetzi
in tēllel in dios ye mochān.
In mach noca ompolihuiz
In cōāyōtl mach noca onpolihuiz
In icnīuhyōtl in ōnō nonyah
in ye īchān, ye niyohyontzin
on cuīcatīllan ye īpalnemohuāni.
Mā xiuhquechōlxōchi
zan in tzinitzcan malīntoc
ca micqui huācqui xōchitl
zan īc tonmoquimiloa
zan titlahtoāni ya tinezahualcoyōtl.
Mā moyōl iuh quimati
in antēpilhuān in ancuāuhtin
amōcēlō ca ahmochipa titocnīhuān
zan cuēl achīc nicān timochin
tonyāzqueh o ye īchān.
Ca ahmopolihuiz in motēyo
nopiltzin titezozomoctli
anca zan yeh in mocuīc,
ay ca nihuālchōca
ca nihuālicnōtlamati
ca ōtiah ye īchān.
Anca nihuāllaōcoya o
nicnōtlamati ayoquīc o,
ayoc quēmmanian,
namēchittaquīuh
in tlālticpac
ca ōtiah ye īchān.
VI. Otro chālcayōtl
canto de Tētlepanquetzanitzin
Ahua nocnīhue ninēntlamati
zan ninochōquilia in monāhuac dios,
quēxquich onmitzicnōtlamachtia
momācēhual cemānāhuac on tonnihtlanilīlo
inīc tontlahuīca tontēcemilhuitiltia in tlālticpac
Mācazo tle xoconyoyōcoya tinoyōllo,
cuix īc nepōhualōyan in oncān nemohua,
in ahtle tlahuēlli in antēcocolia huel
onyēcnemiz in tlalticpac.
In quimati noyōllo nichoca
huele zan ye nelli in titocnīhuān
huele nelli nemohua in tlalticpac
in tonicnīuhtlatzihuiz dios.
Xontlachiya huitztlāmpa
īquīzayān in tōnatiuh
ximoyōlēhua oncān mani
teōātl tlachinolli,
oncān mocui in tēucyōtl
in tlahtohcāyōtl yēctli xōchitl
in ahmō zannēn mocui,
in quetzallalpilōni
macuauhtica chīmaltica
neihcalolāyān in tlalticpac īc
momahcēhua in yēctli xōchitl
in tiquēlēhuia in ticnequi
in tinocnīuh in quitēmahcēhualtia
in quitēnemactia in tloqueh in nāhuaqueh.
Nēn tiquēlēhuia in tictēmoa
in tinocnīuh yēctli xōchitl cān
ticcuiz intlācāmo ximihcali,
mēlchiquiuhtica, mitonaltica
ticmahcēhuaz in yēctli xōchitl,
yāōchōquiztli īxāyōtica
in quitēmahcēhualtia
in tloqueh in nāhuaqueh.
ōme cuīcatl in Cantares Mexicanos
Inin tlahcuilohqueh nāhuatlācah
Listen to song V. read in the original Nahuatl by David Bowles:
The codex known as Cantares Mexicanos (Songs of Mexico) is the larger of the two surviving collections of Aztec cuīcatl (songs). It consists of eight-five folios on which ninety-one cuīcatl were compiled in Nahuatl using Roman script somewhere around 1585. The cuīcatl range widely in genre, from ecstatic hymns celebrating humanity’s reciprocal relationship with heaven to historical ballads, bawdy satire, and philosophical musings. Most, however, are meant to accompany nehtōtiliztli or ritual dances. The two pieces I have translated were intended to promote war, each its own way. Song V is arguably a xōpancuīcatl or song of spring, a genre in which the good things in life are celebrated while their fleeting nature and the greater bliss of the afterlife is stressed. The emotional agony of mourning the ephemeral and longing for the eternal is a key feature of such verse. Song VI expresses a more matter-of-fact rejection of the pleasures of this world, calling men to arms. Both were meant to be performed in the plain or straight style, which may mean that warriors marched to the song on their way to battle. Few translations of these poems exist in English. D. B. Brinton contributed versions in 1890. John Bierhorst’s scholarly rendering of the entire codex into English in 1985 includes more dynamic prose versions, but these stirred controversy among the community of Nahuatl scholars for their imposition of the North American indigenous Ghost Dance tradition onto pre-conquest Mesoamerican verse. For the majority of surviving cuīcatl, there is still a need for a poet to craft versions that appeal to a modern reader, attempting to recreate with the tools of modern verse the feel and impact of the originals. As in my collection Flower, Song, Dance, I have endeavored to accomplish this task in the translations presented here.
Various Aztec Authors composed the songs included in the codex known as Cantares Mexicanos (Songs of Mexico). The identity of the composer of song V is unknown: as with many of the pieces in the codex, s/he is assumed to be an anonymous philosopher-poet of the Aztec Triple Alliance. Song VI, however, was purportedly written by Tētlepanquetzanitzin, a ruler of the city-state Tlacopan who died during the Spanish Conquest.
David Bowles is a resident of deep South Texas and has taught at the University of Texas since 1997. Drawn to the culture and history of Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, he focuses on the study of indigenous philosophy, mythology, and legend through primary sources. In 2014, the Texas Institute of Letters awarded his book Flower, Song, Dance: Aztec and Mayan Poetry the Soeurette Diehl Fraser Award for Best Translation. Bowles is the author of several other titles, most significantly the Pura Belpré Honor Book The Smoking Mirror. Translations by Bowles have appeared in Translation Review, Metamorphoses, Rattle, Axolotl, Huizache, Somos en escrito, BorderSenses, Eye to the Telescope, and Parabola.
