Ancient Nahuatl Poetry

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

XXIV.

Quititi, quititi, quiti tocoto, tocoti tocoto tocoti zan ic mocueptiuh. Quititi, quititi, quiti tocoto, tocoti, tocoto, tocoti, then it is to turn back again.
1. Ma xochicuicoya ma ichtoa nichuana ayyahue teyhuinti xochitl ao ya noyehcoc ye nica poyoma xahuallan timaliuhtihuitz ay yo. 1. Let me pluck flowers, let me see them, let me gather the really intoxicating flowers; the flowers are ready, many colored, varied in hue, for our enjoyment.
2. Ma xochitl oyecoc ye nican ayyahuc can tlaahuixochitla moyahuaya motzetzeloa ancazo yehuatl in nepapaxochitl ayyo. Zan commoni huchuetl ma ya netotilo. 2. The flowers are ready here in this retired spot, this spot of fragrant flowers, many sorts of flowers are poured down and scattered about; let the drum be ready for the dance.
3. Yn quetzal poyomatl ayc ihcuilihuic noyol nicuicanitl in xochitl ayan tzetzelihui ya ancuel ni cuiya ma xonahuacan ayio zan noyolitic ontlapanion cuicaxochitl nicyamoyahuaya yxoochitla. 3. I the singer take and pour down before you from my soul the beautiful poyomatl, not to be painted, and other flowers; let us rejoice, while I alone within my soul disclose the songs of flowers, and scatter them abroad in the place of flowers.
4. Cuicatl ya ninoquinilotehuaz in quemmanian xochineneliuhtiaz noyollo yehuan tepilhuan oonteteuctin in ca yio. 4. I shall leave my songs in order that sometime I may mingle the flowers of my heart with the children and the nobles.
5. Zan ye ic nichoca in quemanian zan nicaya ihtoa noxochiteyo nocuicatoca nictlalitehuaz in quemanian xochineneliuhtiaz, etc. 5. I weep sometimes as I see that I must leave the earth and my flowers and songs, that sometime these flowers will be vain and useless.


NOTES FOR SONG XXIV.

It will be seen that there is a wearisome sameness in the theme of most of the short poems. Probably the bards followed conventional models, and feared for the popularity of their products, did they seek originality. Here again are the same delight in flowers and songs, and the same grief at the thought that all such joys are evanescent and that soon "death closes all."

I consider the poem one of undoubted antiquity and purely native in thought and language.

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