Ancient Nahuatl Poetry ||| SONG XXIV
Category: Ancient Nahuatl Poetry
XXIV.
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XXIV.
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Quititi, quititi, quiti tocoto, tocoti tocoto tocoti zan ic
mocueptiuh.
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Quititi, quititi, quiti tocoto, tocoti, tocoto, tocoti, then it is
to turn back again.
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1. Ma xochicuicoya ma ichtoa nichuana ayyahue teyhuinti xochitl ao ya
noyehcoc ye nica poyoma xahuallan timaliuhtihuitz ay yo.
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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.
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2. Ma xochitl oyecoc ye nican ayyahuc can tlaahuixochitla moyahuaya
motzetzeloa ancazo yehuatl in nepapaxochitl ayyo. Zan commoni
huchuetl ma ya netotilo.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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4. Cuicatl ya ninoquinilotehuaz in quemmanian xochineneliuhtiaz
noyollo yehuan tepilhuan oonteteuctin in ca yio.
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4. I shall leave my songs in order that sometime I may mingle the
flowers of my heart with the children and the nobles.
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5. Zan ye ic nichoca in quemanian zan nicaya ihtoa noxochiteyo
nocuicatoca nictlalitehuaz in quemanian xochineneliuhtiaz, etc.
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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.
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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.
Tagged as: Nahua
