Ancient Nahuatl Poetry

SONG XX.
Translated by Daniel G. Brinton; language: english and nahuatl
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XX.

XX.

1. Tolteca icuilihuia ahaa ya ha on tlantoc amoxtli ya moyollo ya on aya mochonaciticac o o Toltecayootl aic aya ninemiz ye nican ay yo. 1. The Toltecs have been taken, alas, the book of their souls has come to an end, alas, everything of the Toltecs has reached its conclusion, no longer do I care to live here.
2. Ac ya nechcuiliz, ac ye nohuan oyaz o, nicaz a anni icuihuan aya y yancuicanitl y yehetl y noxochiuh non cuica ihuitequi onteixpan ayyo. 2. Who will take me? Who will go with me? I am ready to be taken, alas. All that was fresh, the perfume, my flowers, my songs, have gone along with them.
3. Huey in tetl nictequintomahuac quahuitl, nicicuiloa yancuicatl itech aya oncan nomitoz in quemmanian in can niyaz nocuica machio nicyacauhtiaz in tlalticpac, y onnemiz noyol zan ca ye nican ya hualla y yancoya nolnamicoca nemiz ye noteyo ay yo. 3. Great is my affliction, weighty is my burden; I write out a new song concerning it, that some time I may speak it there where I shall go, a song to be known when I shall leave the earth, that my soul shall live after I have gone from here, that my fame shall live fresh in memory.
4. Nichocaya niquittoaya nicnotza noyollo ma niquitta cuicanelhuayotl ayama nicyatlalaquiya ma ya ica tlalticpac quimman mochihua onnenemiz noyol y. Zan ca teucxochitl ahuiaca ipotocaticac mocepanoayan toxochiuh ay ye ayao ohuiy on can quiya itzmolini ye nocuic celia notlatollaquillo ohua in toxochiuh icac iquiapani ayao. 4. I cried aloud, I looked about, I reflected how I might see the root of song, that I might plant it here on the earth, and that then it should make my soul to live. The sweet exhalations of the lovely flowers rose up uniting with our flowers; one hears them growing as my song buds forth, filled with my words our flowers stand upright in the waters.
5. Tel ca cahua xochitl ahuiac xeliuhtihuitz a ipotocaya in ahuiyac poyomatlin pixahua oncan ninenenemi nicuicanitl y ye aya o ohui y on ca quiya itzmolinп ye nocuic celia, etc. 5. But the flowers depart, their sweetness is divided and exhales, the fragrant poyomatl rains down its leaves where I the poet walk in sadness; one hears them growing, etc.


NOTES FOR SONG XX.

Another song of the antique Quetzalcoatl cyclus. It bewails the loss of Tulan, and the bard seeks in vain for any joyous theme to inspire his melody, reflecting on all that has bloomed in glory and now is gone forever.

3. Tetl-quahitl; see note to XVIII, 9.

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