Song LXXV — Yaoxochicuicatl (Let Me Be a Quetzal Bird)
MS LXXV carries the genre heading Yaoxochicuicatl — War-Flower Song — a compound genre combining the imagery of war (yaotl) with the flower-song (xochicuicatl) tradition. The song spans twelve sections across folios 64r–64v of the Cantares Mexicanos manuscript. It has no named performer or attribution rubric beyond the genre heading.
The song opens with an image of Mexico-Tenochtitlan as a place of white willows, white reeds, and jade-green water, where a bird sings. The singer raises a new song to the Giver of Life (Ipalnemohuani) and addresses the warrior-princes as eagles and jaguars — members of the two highest Aztec military orders — whom God adorns in the plumage of sacred birds. At its emotional center (§1316), the singer breaks into a desperate, ecstatic cry: "How shall I do it? Let me die! Let me be a quetzal bird! Let me go flying into the sky!" In Nahua cosmology, warriors slain in battle or on the sacrificial stone were believed to become hummingbirds and butterflies who fly to the sun and feed on flowers in the celestial paradise. The quetzal transformation is the warrior's highest aspiration — not an escape from death but a passage through it into beauty. The song then turns to the borrowed nature of all earthly joy: "We only came to borrow the flower-drum... only for a brief time is there joy." The final section blooms and withers in a single breath: the precious izquixochitl opens, the princes rise — and everything on earth fades.
The epithet "Necoc" (§1311, translated as "Warrior of Both Sides") likely refers to Necoc Yaotl, "Enemy of Both Sides," a title of Tezcatlipoca — the shape-shifting deity who tests, provokes, and transforms. In the colonial syncretic context of this manuscript, the epithet is applied to the Christian God. The song maintains bird names in Nahuatl (tzinitzcan, zacuan, tlauhquechol) and botanical names (izquixochitl, poyomatli) following the translation conventions of this project.
MS LXXV spans folios 64r–64v, sections 1309–1320. Nahuatl source text accessed from the UNAM TEMOA digital platform (temoa.iib.unam.mx), CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Translated directly from Classical Nahuatl by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
On the branches of the white willow — there you sing,
where the white reeds stand,
the white bulrushes,
the jade —
here is Mexico.
Ohuiya.
I begin, I sing anew,
I raise the song —
only the song of God,
the Giver of Life.
Ohuaya, ohuaya.
At the fading of the song-feast
the Warrior of Both Sides has come —
God has come!
You princes,
let beautiful flowers be borrowed!
Ahuayya, ayyon. Ohuaya, ohuaya.
Eagle plumes of every kind stand bristling —
they are your drum, Giver of Life,
fresh as the tzinitzcan bird they stand —
and with them the princes gladden you,
there in the courtyard of song-flowers.
Ohuaya.
Heron-plume flowers have bloomed,
and there it sings, it speaks —
the precious rattle-bird —
Ixtlilcuechahuac,
golden-flower bird, Tlacahuepantzin —
they fly about
in the courtyard of song-flowers.
Ohuaya.
With the tzinitzcan, the zacuan, the tlauhquechol
you paint your song in colors, Giver of Life —
you adorn your friends in quetzal plumes,
the eagles, the jaguars —
you give them courage.
Ohuaya.
Who is the orphan?
Who shall arrive there
where one is ennobled, where one gains honor?
Send the eagles, the jaguars —
you give them courage.
Ohuaya.
How shall I do it?
Let me die!
Let me be a quetzal bird!
Let me go flying into the sky!
This is why I weep.
Ohuaya, ohuaya.
A brief time at your side,
Giver of Life —
in truth you inscribe people,
there you show them compassion,
beside you, near you.
Ohuaya, ohuaya.
Zacuan, quetzal bird —
you gather the princes together.
Their poyomatli flowers —
I give them, I string them as necklaces,
the various flowers,
in the place of friendship
where we know each other at the drums.
Ohuaya.
We only came to borrow the flower-drum,
we only came to borrow the flower-rattle —
our songs, our flowers —
only for a brief time is there joy.
Ohuaya.
The precious izquixochitl has sprouted —
it swells, it opens —
the princes, the eagle, the jaguar —
everything withers,
whatever comes to bloom,
whatever comes to be upon the earth.
Ohuaya.
Colophon
Translated from Classical Nahuatl by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. MS LXXV of the Cantares Mexicanos, genre heading Yaoxochicuicatl (War-Flower Song), twelve sections (§§1309–1320), folios 64r–64v.
The compound yaoxochicuicatl joins yaotl (war) with xochicuicatl (flower-song) — the genre in which war is understood as a sacred offering of flowers and the warrior's death as a blooming. "Giver of Life" translates Ipalnemohuani ("He by Whom All Live"), the most common epithet for the supreme deity in Nahua poetry. "Warrior of Both Sides" translates Necoc, likely referencing the Tezcatlipoca epithet Necoc Yaotl ("Enemy of Both Sides"). The "eagles" (cuauhtin) and "jaguars" (ocelomeh) are the two supreme Aztec warrior orders. Dead warriors were believed to accompany the sun and transform into birds and butterflies in the celestial flower-world — hence the singer's cry at §1316: ma niquetzaltototl, ma nipatlantihui ilhuicatl itic ("let me be a quetzal bird, let me go flying into the sky").
The izquixochitl (Bourreria huanita) is a fragrant white flower associated with nobility and paradise. The poyomatli (Magnolia dealbata) is a large-petalled flower used in garlands and necklaces. Bird names are preserved in Nahuatl: tzinitzcan (resplendent trogon, Trogon mexicanus), zacuan/çaquan (Montezuma oropendola), tlauhquechol (roseate spoonbill). Ixtlilcuechahuac and Tlacahuepantzin are named warrior-lords, here identified with paradise birds — either dead warriors transformed or living nobles metaphorically adorned.
All English independently derived from Classical Nahuatl. The León-Portilla Spanish translation in the UNAM TEMOA edition was consulted post-draft to verify morphological readings at §§1311 (Necoc), 1312 (quauhizyuayoticac), and 1315 (manihuan). No existing English translation was identified for this song.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
🌲
Source Text: Manuscript Heading LXXV
Classical Nahuatl source text from the Cantares Mexicanos manuscript, Biblioteca Nacional de México, sixteenth century, accessed via the UNAM TEMOA digital platform (temoa.iib.unam.mx), CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
[Folio 64r — manuscript heading LXXV, Yaoxochicuicatl]
[§1309, folio 64r]
A iztac huexotl ymapan aya can totlatohua yehua acatl iztac ymancan tolin iztac chalchihuitl ymanca Mexico nican ea a ohuiya
[§1310, folio 64r]
Nompehua noncuica yancohui ye noconehua yn çan can ye incuic in yehuan Tiox Ypalnemohuani ohuaya ohuaya
[§1311, folio 64r]
Cuicailhuiçolpan yn Necoc hualacic y iiehuan Tiox antépilhuan ma onnetlanehuilo yectli ya xochitl ahuayya ayyon ohuaya ohuaya
[§1312, folio 64r]
Nepapan quauhizyuayoticac ye mohuehueuh Ypalnemoani ontzinitzcanicelizticac ayyahuen yca mitzonahuiltia a in tepilhuan huiya a oach i ye iuhcan cuicaxochithuall imanican a ohuaya etcetera
[§1313, folio 64r]
Aztayhuixochitl oncuepontoc ye oncan ycahuacaontlatohua yehuaya yn quetzalayacachtototl Yxtlilcuechahuac teocuitlaxochitototl yn Tlacahuepantzin patlantinemi o ach in ye iuhcan cuicaxochithuall imanican na ohuaya
[§1314, folio 64r]
Tzinitzcan in çaquan ye tlauhquechol yc an tictlatlapalpohua ye mocuic Ypalnemohuani tiquimoquetzalti ya yn mocnihuan i yn quauhtin nocelo ye tiquimellaquahua ohuaya etcetera
[§1315, folio 64r]
Aqu icnopilli ac onacitiuh yn oncan piltihua mahuiztihua yehuaya yn manihuan i yn quauhtin ocelo yc tiquimellaquahua ohuaya etcetera
[§1316, folio 64r]
Y yaqui yancohuiyyo huixahue huiya quen noconchihuaz in ma cuel nonmiqui yehua ma niquetzaltototl ma nipatlantihui ilhuicatlytiqui yca nichoca yan ohuaya ohuaya
[§1317, folio 64r]
Cuel achic monahuac yehuaya Ypalnemohuani yn ye nelli tonteycuiloa oncan tonteicnomati yn motloc monahuacan ohuaya ohuaya
[§1318, folio 64r]
Çaquan quetzaltototl çan tiquimonnechicohua a in tepilhuan huiya yn ixochipoyon a yn yehuaya niquinmaca niquimoncozcati a on in nepapan xochitl yn icniuhyotican ya titoyximati huehuetitlan a etcetera
[§1319, folio 64r]
Çan tictlanehuico toxochihuehueuh çan tictlanehuico toxochiayacach in yhuan in ye tocuic toxochihua ya çan achica onahahuiltilo ya ohuaya etcetera
[§1320, folios 64r–64v]
Yn quetzalizquixochitl aya oitzmolinico mimilihui cueponih in tépilhuan in quauhtli ocelotl yxquich oncuetlahui ya quexquich onquiçaquiuh huiya quexquich onmomanaquiuh in tlalticpac ca ohuaya
Source Colophon
Source text from the Cantares Mexicanos manuscript, 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.
Critical edition: Miguel León-Portilla et al., Cantares Mexicanos, 3 vols. (México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México / Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, 2011). MS LXXV spans folios 64r–64v, sections 1309–1320, genre heading Yaoxochicuicatl. Preceded by MS LXXIV (Yaocuicatl, concluding on 64r) and followed by MS LXXVI (Xochicuicatl, beginning on 64v). Section 1320 spans the folio 64r/64v boundary. This translation is complete.
No existing English translation was identified for this song. All English independently derived from Classical Nahuatl. The León-Portilla Spanish translation was consulted post-draft for morphological verification only.
🌲