Song VII — Another Song (Otro)
Song VII of the Cantares Mexicanos appears on folio 4r of the manuscript, labeled simply "Otro" — Another. It follows the elegiac Chalco song of Tetlepanquetzanitzin (Song VI) and opens a new register: the xochiyaoyotl, or flower-war. Where Song VI mourned the dead lords in grief, Song VII turns to the living warriors and demands they earn their flower through battle.
The song is addressed to "the Chiapaneca-Otomí" — a warrior cohort, named in the manner of Nahua battle-poetry that pairs peoples or groups as a figure of the mixed frontier force. The central image is the "divine white pulque" (tiçaoctli) — the ceremonial foamy agave wine — elevated here into a kenning for the ecstasy of warfare. Ordinary wine produces ordinary drunkenness; the flower-white-pulque of battle produces the true intoxication of honor and lordship. Sections 34–35 meditate on how the precious flower — nobility, rulership — cannot be earned without entering the dangerous place. Sections 36–39 turn outward, shaking the sleeping warriors awake, urging them to abandon ordinary pleasures and drink at last the real inebriant: sacred water and burning field — the Nahuatl warrior's kenning for war.
This translation covers Song VII, sections 34–39 of the manuscript (folio 4r to early folio 4v). 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.
Lordship, rulership —
the good beautiful flower —
is not earned without purpose.
The quetzal headband
is won by eagle-staff, by shield,
in the place of striving on this earth.
That is how the good beautiful flower is deserved —
that which you desire, that which you long for,
you my friend —
which the Lord of the Near and Nigh
grants as merit, bestows as gift.
In vain you desired it,
in vain you sought it —
you my friend — the good beautiful flower.
Where will you find it
if you do not go into battle?
With open breast, with blazing spirit —
that is how you will truly earn it:
the good beautiful flower,
through the tears of war.
The Lord of the Near and Nigh grants it as merit.
What is it you have attained, you our friends,
you Chiapaneca-Otomí?
Has your true joy not yet arrived?
The ordinary wine that you drank —
with that you became drunk.
Bring out your flowers!
You who lie sleeping — wake up!
You our friends, let us go there —
to our home, to the spring land.
Here your intoxication will break open.
Look here — the dangerous path calls.
Come — you are being honored.
For long ago it was this way:
the divine white pulque they sought on this earth.
In the dangerous place they entered —
sacred water, burning field, they called it.
It tears people, destroys people;
there the precious jade shatters,
the divine turquoise,
the bracelet, the precious stone.
The nobles drink it —
the flower-white-pulque.
Oh our friends — we have given ourselves to it.
Let us drink it now —
in Flower Land, our home,
on the flower earth, from the heavens —
the fragrant flower-spring flows,
spreading with joy all around.
It warms the heart —
the life-dew-flower.
Our home in Chiapan —
there we are honored:
lordship, rulership,
the shield-flower blooms
in the Land of Sustenance.
How is it you do not hear, you our friends?
Our path — our path!
Leave it — the divine white pulque!
Sacred water, battle's flood —
let us go drink it there,
where we shine, our home.
The flower-dew-water:
with this alone our hearts are joyfully inebriates,
made content, made warm.
We go adorning ourselves with flowers
in the place of contentment,
our place of emergence —
Flower Land, Land of Sustenance!
On this earth — what is it you have obtained?
Hear our song, we your friends.
[The song continues…]
Colophon
Song VII of the Cantares Mexicanos is labeled simply Otro (Another) in the manuscript — a song that follows Song VI without a specific genre designation. It occupies folio 4r and the opening of folio 4v (sections 34–39 in the continuous verse numbering of the critical edition), spanning the transition between gatherings of the manuscript.
The song belongs to the xochiyaoyotl tradition — flower-war poetry — in which the gloria of battle is figured as a precious flower that must be won, not simply given. Its addressees are the "Chiapaneca-Otomí," a pairing that appears elsewhere in Nahua war poetry to designate a mixed or frontier warrior cohort. The song's central conceit turns on the contrast between ordinary octli (agave wine) and tiçaoctli — the divine white pulque, here elevated as a kenning for the intoxicating ecstasy of battle and honor. The warrior who drinks only ordinary wine remains asleep; the one who enters teoatl tlachinolli (sacred water and burning field — the standard Nahuatl kenning for war) will drink the true flower-inebriant.
Note on sections 34 and the folio transition: The previous project file (Song VI, folio 3v) noted that section 34 begins on folio 3v but the Roman numeral VII header appears on folio 4r. The UNAM TEMOA platform presents the verse text continuously; section 34 as translated here represents the text found on folio 4r under the VII header, which is the conventional opening of Song VII for this project.
Note on section 39: The UNAM TEMOA transcription ends verse 39 with the scribal abbreviation etcetera, indicating the scribe did not write out the full continuation of the final passage. The translation renders the text available and notes the abbreviation.
The translation was made from Classical Nahuatl, consulting Alonso de Molina's Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana (1571) and Frances Karttunen's Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl for lexical verification. No existing English translation of the Cantares Mexicanos was used as source or guide; the English is independently derived.
Translated from Classical Nahuatl and compiled for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Song VII — Sections 34–39 (Folio 4r)
Classical Nahuatl source text from the Cantares Mexicanos manuscript, Biblioteca Nacional de México. Transcription accessed via the UNAM TEMOA digital platform (temoa.iib.unam.mx), CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Song header and verse text presented in manuscript order. Embedded footnote markers from the scholarly edition have been removed.
(VII — Otro)
in teucyotl in tlatocayotl yectli ya xochitl in amo çannen mocuia in quetzallalpiloni aya macquauhtica chimaltica neicaloloyan in tlalticpac ic momacehuaya in yectli ya xochitl in tiquelehuia in ticnequia in tinocniuh in quitemacehualtia in quitenemactia in Tloque in Nahuaque
Nen tiquelehuiaya in tictemoaya in tinocniuh yectli ya xochitl can ticuiz intlacamo ximicaliya elchiquiuhticaya mitonalticaya ya ticmacehuaz ya in yectli ya xochitla yaochoquiztli yxayoticaya in quitemacehualtia in Tloque in Nahuaque
Tlein mach oamaxqueon in antocnihuan in anchiapanecaotomi omach amelel ahcic ynic oamihuintique o octicatl in oanquique ic oamihuintique xiqualcuican in amoma in anhuehuetztoque o ximozcalican o in antocnihuan nipa tiazque in tochan o xopantlalpan ye nican maquiça yn amihuintiliz on xitlachiacan o ohuican ye anmaquia o
Ca yeppa iuhqui in tiçaoctli in tlalticpac quitemacao ohuican ic tecalaquiao teoatl tlachinolli quitoao texaxamatza o tepopoloa o oncan in xaxamani o in tlaçochalchihuitl in teoxihuitl in maquiztli tlaçotetl in tepilhuanin conini o in xochitiçaoctli o in antocnihuan in tonicahuaca o
Ma ye tic iti in Xochitlalpan in tochan xochitlalticpac ilhuicacpa o in huelic xochiamemeyallotl onahuiaxtimani teyol quima yolilizahuachxochitl in tochan in chiappa oncan timalolo in teucyotl in tlatocayotl in chimalxochitl oncuepontimani Tonacatlalpan
Quemach in amo antlacaqui o in antocnihuan tohuian tohuian o xicahuacan o in tiçaoctli o teoatl achinoloctli ma ye ompa tic yti yn ompa tinectilo in tochan xochiahuachoctli çan ic ahuiacayhuinti in toyollo tetlamachtio teyol quima o tixochiachichinatihui netlamachtiloyan in toquiçayan Xochitlalpan Tonacatlalpan mach oamaxque o xichualcaquican in tocuic in tamocnihuan etcetera
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). Song VII appears on folio 4r. The UNAM TEMOA platform provides the accessible transcription; the scholarly PDF edition is image-only.
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