Song LIII — Where Are the Roots of Heaven

Song LIII is the Mexicayotl — the Song of the Mexica, the great migration song. Under the genre header "Mexicayotl" (literally "the Mexica manner" or "the essence of being Mexica"), the poem traces the Aztec journey from mythic origins to historical suffering in twelve compressed sections.

The song opens at Tzihuactitlan, the place of thorns, and reaches backward to Chicomoztoc — the Seven Caves, the legendary origin-place of all Nahua peoples. The ancestral lords Quinatzin, Tlaltecatzin, and Techotlalatzin are summoned. Nezahualcoyotl weeps for his grandfathers at Ximoayan, the place of the stripped dead. Pain arrives at Colhuacan. A captive is released. Then the migration quickens: Cohuatepec (Serpent Mountain, where Huitzilopochtli was born), Chapultepec (Grasshopper Hill), the leaders Tolnahuacatl and Tozcuecuex. The shields are turned at Colhuacan. The Mexica weep. Their tears stretch like the great water.

At the song's center stands the question: "Where are their roots in heaven? Where speaks the Giver of Life?" — the existential crisis of the Mexica wandering, seeking divine legitimacy among peoples who reject them. The song closes with a challenge to the Azcapotzalca lords, asking whether their word will prove true.

Song LIII occupies folios 37r through the beginning of 37v, sections 701 through 712 (MS LV). The drum preamble "Toco tico tocoti" opens the Mexicayotl genre. Nahuatl source text accessed from the UNAM TEMOA digital platform. Translated directly from Classical Nahuatl by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

Mexicayotl.

Toco tico tocoti tocoti tocoti tocoti.

[section 701]

At Tzihuactitlan,
in the maguey-place —
they came leaving footprints.
At the place of battle, a seat was set;
the great pot was overturned.
My ancestors:
Quinatzin, Tlaltecatzin,
the lord Techotlalatzin —
at Chicomoztoc they are summoned.

[section 702]

I weep, I weep.
My heart has compassion —
I, Nezahualcoyotl.
Where is Ximoayan?
My ancestors:
Quinatzin, Tlaltecatzin,
the lord Techotlalatzin —
at Chicomoztoc they are summoned.

[section 703]

Pain — it has arrived.
By this was Acolmiztli seen.
The wanderers come singing
to Colhuacan.
Atotoztli gave forth shoots —
it sprouted, it bloomed:
the grief-flower of Coxcotzin,
of the Calcocámetl.

[section 704]

With difficulty
they beheld the great land,
Colhuacan —
among the mesquites,
among the thorns.
They came to bury
the grief-flower of Coxcotzin,
of the Calcocámetl.

[section 705]

Let my captive go free!
Let my captive go free!

[section 706]

Cohuatepec —
turquoise columns, quetzal house!
I was there.
But it was abandoned —
the water, the mountain, the city.
From there the Mexica came,
the elders.
Here at Chapultepec
we arrived —
O Tolnahuacatl,
O Tozcuecuex.

[section 707]

Who knows? In the night —
it was abandoned:
the water, the mountain, the city.
From there the Mexica came,
the elders.
Here at Chapultepec
we arrived —
O Tolnahuacatl,
O Tozcuecuex.

[section 708]

No longer truly —
the Mexica say:
where are their roots in heaven?
Where speaks the Giver of Life?
Weep!
Where will his people perish?

[section 709]

What was his merit?
Why has the Mexica
left Axolohua,
where the chalk-water stands?
There his heart weeps.
Where will his people perish?

[section 710]

The shields were turned
there at the little wall.
Colhuacan was abandoned.
With this, we Mexica
were set in motion —
tears rise.
Like the great water
it stretches —
his people.

[section 711]

The princes, our lords —
Colhuacan was abandoned.
With this, we Mexica
were set in motion —
tears rise.
Like the great water
it stretches —
his people.

[section 712]

Here I say it — I, a Mexica,
I, Ocelopa:
is it possible that they can earn merit there —
the lords Acolnahuacatl, Tezozomoctli?
Perhaps sometime
their word will not prove true —
the princes of Azcapotzalco.

Colophon

Song LIII of the Cantares Mexicanos, folios 37r–37v, sections 701–712 (twelve sections). The Mexicayotl — Song of the Mexica — MS LV.

This is one of the most historically significant songs in the Cantares Mexicanos. It traces the Mexica migration from mythic origins at Chicomoztoc (Seven Caves) through the key stations of their legendary journey: Tzihuactitlan (the place of thorns), Colhuacan (the city of the Colhua, where the Mexica lived as vassals), Cohuatepec (Serpent Mountain, birthplace of Huitzilopochtli), and Chapultepec (Grasshopper Hill, the temporary resting place before Tenochtitlan). The difrasismo atl in tepetl — "the water, the mountain" — is the Nahuatl kenning for "city," and its repetition in §§706–707 (ye cahualoc atl in tepetl, "the city was abandoned") drives the song's rhythm of departure and loss.

Named figures divide into three groups. Ancestral Texcocans: Quinatzin, Tlaltecatzin, Techotlalatzin — lords of the Acolhua dynasty, Nezahualcoyotl's forebears. Early Colhua/Mexica: Acolmiztli, Atotoztli, Coxcotzin, Calcocámetl — figures from the Colhuacan period. Migration leaders: Tolnahuacatl, Tozcuecuex — Mexica leaders at Chapultepec. Political rivals: Acolnahuacatl, Tezozomoctli — Tepanec lords of Azcapotzalco, the dominant power the Mexica eventually overthrew. The speaker Ocelopa in §712 challenges their legitimacy.

The question at the song's center — can innelhuayo in ilhuicatl? (where are their roots in heaven?) — articulates the fundamental crisis of the Mexica migration: a people without divine sanction, wandering among established powers, asking whether the Giver of Life speaks for them.

Translated directly from Classical Nahuatl via the UNAM TEMOA transcription of the Cantares Mexicanos (MS 1628 bis, Biblioteca Nacional de México). Lexical verification via Molina's Vocabulario en Lengua Castellana y Mexicana (1571) and Karttunen's Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (1983). No existing English translation was consulted or followed. The León-Portilla Spanish translation was used solely as a cross-reference after independent Nahuatl parsing. This is the first free literary English translation of this song.

Good Works Translation by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Scribed by Xochitl.

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Source Text

Cantares Mexicanos, folios 37r–37v, sections 701–712. Classical Nahuatl text from the UNAM TEMOA digital transcription. Footnote markers from the León-Portilla critical edition removed.

Mexicayotl. Toco tico tocoti tocoti tocoti tocoti.

§701 Tzihuactitlan nequametla huallacxipatlatiaque yeçocalco netlaliloc huey comitl necpaltiloc nocolihuan Quinatzi Tlaltecatzi Te'chotlalatl teuctli Chicomoztoc neneco oya

§702 Nichoca nichoca icnoyoa noyoliol nehuayan Neçahualcoyotzi can on aya Ximoaya nocolihua in Quinatzi Tlaltecatzi Te'chotlalatl teuctli Chicomoztoc neneco oya

§703 Cococayo in e'cohuac ica ittoc Acolmiztli hualcuica ne'nenque Colhuacan o Atotoztli a itzmolin oya oya xotlac inchoquizxochiuh Coxcotzin Calcocametl huin oya xahuini

§704 Ayaxcan in quittaque huey tlalli a Colhuacan mizquititlan o tzihuactitla quitlalaquico inchoquizxochiuh Coxcotzin Calcocametl huin oya xahuini

§705 Yo yo mihua ma ya quiça nomali ayyahui yahuiya ayahuiya ma ya quiça nomali

§706 Cohuatepec xiuhtlaquetzalla ymanican quetzalcalli onicaca aya que ye cahualoc atl in tepetl in oncan a ye quihualmatque in mexica in huehuetque yece nican Chapoltepec ica tacico oo Tolnahuacatl ye Tozcuecuex yia ohuia

§707 Ancoc yohuayan in ac ya imatiaque ye cahualoc Atl yn tepetl in oncan a ye quihualmatque in mexica in huehuetque yece nican Chapoltepec ica tacico oo Tolnahuacatl ye Tozcuecuex yia ohuia

§708 O amaihice ayoc nello on quittoa mexica aya can innelhuayo in ilhuicatl in canon in tlatoa Ipalnemoani xiyachocaca cam polihuiz imacehual yyao ohuiya

§709 Tle in quimaceuh huee tle icoconcauh a in mexicatl Axoloa ye tiçaatl imanca choca yioliol cam polihuiz imacehual yyao ohuiya

§710 Yn chimalli cuecuepaloc y ye tepantonco yyehuaya ocahualoc in Colihuaca yca tolinque ye timexica choquiztlehua y yeehuaya ye cem atl mani a ymacehual yyao ohuiya

§711 Yn pipiltin toteuchuan ay yeehuaya ocahualoc in Colihuaca yca tolinque ye timexica choquiztlehua y yeehuaya ye cem atl mani a ymacehual yyao ohuiya

§712 Yn nica ya ihtoa ye nimexicatl nOcelopa quenmach vel onca ay ye motlamacehuia in teteuctin Acolnahuacatl Teçoçomoctli at quenmanian a in yectla intlatol yn azcapotzalca pipilta yio ohuiya

Source Colophon

Source text from the Cantares Mexicanos (MS 1628 bis), Biblioteca Nacional de México, sixteenth century. Transcription accessed via the UNAM TEMOA digital platform (temoa.iib.unam.mx). The manuscript transcription is made available by the Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliográficas, UNAM, under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. Reproduced for non-commercial archival use under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

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