Song XX — XXI (Not Forever on Earth)
Song XX carries manuscript heading XXI and spans folio 17r only — eleven stanzas in the voice of Nezahualcoyotl of Texcoco, addressed to the lords of the Triple Alliance. The song has no genre rubric; unlike the melahuac cuicatl of Song XIX or the xochicuicatl of Song XVI, it opens simply with the Roman numeral XXI and begins.
The song's center of gravity is its sixth stanza — one of the most celebrated passages in Classical Nahuatl literature: "Not forever on earth — only a little while here. Yet jade too shatters; gold too breaks; quetzal feathers break and go." Versions of this nochipa tlalticpac fragment appear across multiple Nahuatl manuscript traditions, all attributed to Nezahualcoyotl. The Cantares Mexicanos version is among the earliest preserved.
The song moves in three arcs: an opening address to the lords and exhortation to take joy while life allows (stanzas 1–4); a turn to Nezahualcoyotl's own first-person voice asking whether one truly lives on earth, the transience passage, and a meditation on the flower-tree of fellowship and on eagle-and-jaguar glory against the griever's poverty (stanzas 5–8); and a closing arc of bird imagery at the drum, ending with the vision of Moteucçoma and Totoquihuatzin seated on their turquoise-painted thrones in the spring-house (stanzas 9–11).
Song XX spans folio 17r only. 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.
Your word, O lords —
O Nezahualcoyotl, O Moteucçoma —
someday you will leave your people behind.
Ohuaya!
Still rejoice, in the presence of God,
Giver of Life!
Again you are lords on earth.
Someday you will leave your people behind.
Ohuaya ohuaya!
Still enjoy yourself — still wrap yourself,
O noble child, O Nezahualcoyotl —
take for yourself the flower
of the One by Whom We Live.
You go weary, you go tired here.
Someday it will carry your fame, your glory —
only borrowed for a little while,
O nobles. Ohuaya!
Let Nezahualcoyotl think on it still —
truly the home of God, Giver of Life.
He goes taking beside him his mat, his seat,
going spreading his wisdom wide
on earth, in the heavens — aah!
Where will he truly know things?
There he goes spreading their joy.
Ohuaya ohuaya!
We shall go — come, let us rejoice!
I declare it: I, Nezahualcoyotl —
is it truly that one lives on earth?
Hui! Ohuaye!
Not forever on earth —
only a little while here.
Ohuaye ohuaye!
Yet jade too shatters;
gold too breaks;
quetzal feathers break and go.
Ohuaye!
Not forever on earth —
only a little while here.
Ohuaya!
Already it spreads into bloom —
the friend-flower-tree!
Its fellowship, its shared root
has become the nobility —
because of it, it stands here.
Shall I only gaze upon eagle-glory,
jaguar-glory —
I who am afflicted here?
Only orphanhood stands here.
Ohuaya ohuaya.
Let the forest-bird —
only the arrow-bird —
come flying spread-winged to the Giver of Life!
You have arisen.
Your awaited one stands near;
your shelter is near.
You scatter yourself,
you shake yourself
here at the drum.
You are only scattered feathers —
only a quetzal-egret —
sending smoke upward,
shaking yourself
here at the drum.
Thus turquoise-painted, the eagle-mat —
upon the jaguar-seat you sit
in the spring-house,
O Moteucçoma, O Totoquihuatzin!
Colophon
Translated from Classical Nahuatl by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. All English independently derived from the Nahuatl source. No existing English translation was consulted during the translation process.
Song XX spans folio 17r under manuscript heading XXI, presented in TEMOA as eleven stanzas (TEMOA §§262–272). In the continuous section-numbering of the León-Portilla critical edition (UNAM, 2011), these correspond to the sections immediately following Song XIX's final stanza (§262 in prior sessions' tracking); a one-unit numbering offset between the TEMOA display and the León-Portilla count exists and is noted for the Kshatriya audit.
The sixth stanza (annochipa tlalticpac çan achica ye nican) is one of the most widely known passages in Classical Nahuatl poetry, associated with Nezahualcoyotl across multiple independent manuscript witnesses. The present translation treats its negative particle an- as a contraction of amo (not), following standard grammatical analysis: "not forever on earth." The jade/gold/quetzal series (chalchihuitl xamani, teocuitlatl tlapani, quetzalli poztequi) expresses impermanence through the shattering of the most durable and precious materials in the Nahua world.
The fifth stanza's existential question (cuix oc nelli nemohua o a in tlalticpac — "is it truly that one lives on earth?") is a rhetorical marker common to Nezahualcoyotl's attributed corpus, not an expression of doubt but an invitation to attend more closely to what life is.
The fourth stanza's coyamahmatinemi yn tlalticpac yn ilhuicatl — "goes spreading his wisdom wide on earth, in the heavens" — presents genuine lexical difficulty; the compound coyamahmatinemi may involve coyahua (to become spacious/open) or coyonia (to pierce through). The translation chooses the sense of expansion.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Folio 17r — Manuscript Heading XXI
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. Section numbers follow TEMOA's folio-based display. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
[Folio 17r — Manuscript heading XXI]
[TEMOA §262]
in amotla'tol anteteuctin y Neçahualcoyotzin Moteucçomatzin anquicnocahuazque in quenman o ah momacehual a ohuaya etcetera
[TEMOA §263]
Oc xonmocuiltonocan ytloc ynahuac yn Dios aya Ypalnemohuani ayoppa teuctihua o a in tlalticpac ye anquicnocahuazque in quenman o amomacehual a ohuaya ohuaya
[TEMOA §264]
Oc xonmocuiltono y yeehuaya ocxonmoquimilo in titepiltzin Neçahualcoyotzin xoconmotlacui yn ixochiuh yn Ipaltinemi onciahuitiuh ontlatzihuitiuh ye nican in quenmanian coninayaz yn itleyo yn imahuiço çan cuel achic onnetlanehuilo antepilhuan ohuaya etcetera
[TEMOA §265 — repeats §264 in full (abbreviated "etcetera" in manuscript), then extends:]
Oc xonmocuiltono i yeehuaya oc xomoquimilo in titepiltzin etcetera Neçahualcoyotzin xoconmotlacui yn ixochiuh yn Ipaltinemi onciahuitiuh ontlatzihuitiuh ye nican inquenmanian coninayaz yn itleyo yn imahuiço çan cuel achic onnetlanehuilo antepilhuan ohuaya Maoc ye xicyocoya y Neçahualcoyotzin anca huel ichan Dios aya Ypalnemoani çan itlan conantinemi yn ipetl yn icpall yçan coyamahmatinemi yn tlalticpac yn ilhuicatl ayahue can ie huelamatiz ompa ye conmanatiuh yn inecuiltonol ohuaya ohuaya
[TEMOA §266]
Tiazque yehua xonahuiacan niquittoa o Nineçahualcoyotl huia cuix oc nelli nemohua o a in tlalticpac y hui ohuaye
[TEMOA §267]
Annochipa tlalticpac çan achica ye nican ohuaye ohuaye Tel ca chalchihuitl no xamani no teocuitlatl in tlapani oo quetzalli poztequi yahui ohuaye annochipa tlalticpac çan achica ye nican ohuaya etcetera
[TEMOA §268]
Yan cuecuepontimani yeehuaya a in icniuhxochinquahuitl y cohuayotl y nehnelhuayo mochiuhtoc ya in tecpillotl a ica mahmani ye nican etcetera
[TEMOA §269]
Çan niquittaz quauhyotl mahuiçotl oceloyotl in ninotolinia ya nica huia in çan icnoyotl yca mahmani ye nican ohuaya ohuaya
[TEMOA §270]
Man quahuitototl yiehuaya çan tlacochtlin tototl tiiapatlantihuitz Ypalnemoa o aya timoquetzacon mochial ymanca motzaqual ymanca timopohpoa ya çan timotzetzeloa ya huehuetitlan ye nican etcetera
[TEMOA §271]
Çan tepehuin ticatl yn ihuitl çan ca quetzalaztatl timopopoyahuan timotzetzeloa ya huehuetitlan ye nican
[TEMOA §272]
Yc onxiuhycuiliuhtoc in quauhpetlatl ayyahue a oceloicpall ipan amoncate yn xopancalitic in Moteucçomatzin in Totoquihuatzin 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 XX carries manuscript heading XXI, spanning folio 17r only, sections 262–272 in TEMOA's folio display. Song XXI (manuscript heading XXII) begins at folio 17v. This translation is complete.
No existing English translation was consulted during the translation process. All English independently derived from Classical Nahuatl.
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