Song XXI — XXII (The Flower-Tree of God)
Song XXI carries manuscript heading XXII and spans folio 17v only — ten stanzas without a genre rubric. The song opens in a questioning, elegiac register: "How does the Giver of Life speak?" — implying that God has fallen silent now that the great Chichimec lord Nezahualpilli is no longer on his mat. The opening three stanzas form a memorial arc for named lords — Nezahualpilli of Texcoco (§273), and Tlacahuepantzin and Ixtlilcuechahuac (§275) — who have gone to Quenonamican, the uncertain place of the dead. War-flowers scatter and wilt between them (§274), as eagle-and-jaguar glory fades.
The song's center pivots at §276. From the grief of empty mats, the voice rises to the flower-tree at the root-house of God, where golden orioles and turquoise roseate spoonbills and quetzal birds arrive from all directions — from Nonohualco, from throughout the world (§277). These are the Giver of Life's own creations, gathering at the quetzal-tassel place. The bird sequence intensifies (§§278–279): a turquoise-spoonbill flower-mat lies spread in the turquoise book-house, God the dawn-light gazing upon it, while the quechol companions chatter and cry at the coming of day.
The final movement (§§280–281) addresses the living lords of the Triple Alliance: Moteucçomatzin of Tenochtitlan and Totoquihuatzin of Tlacopan. The flower-courtyard of their court spreads, and they lift their fine song inside the painted-writing house — a mirror image, at the human level, of the divine bird-court above. The song closes with §282, a brief meditation on the quechol of God speaking from Huitzilan, drinking from the flower-place, and blooming in the heart — without the customary ohuaya refrain, fading rather than ending.
Song XXI spans folio 17v 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.
How does the Giver of Life speak?
No longer — not even a little —
on his mat, that God,
there where he has left you behind,
Nezahualpilli, Chichimec lord.
Ohuaya, ohuaya.
War-flowers scatter, scatter —
some bloom, all wilt:
eagle-nature, jaguar-nature.
However many have gone,
however many will yet live beside you,
near you, that God —
yet there, there indeed.
Ohuaya, ohuaya.
They have gone to Quenonamican —
Tlacahuepantzin, the speaker,
Ixtlilcuechahuac —
still a brief while,
they went to live before God
out on the plain.
Yet there — there indeed.
Ohuaya.
The flower-tree at its root-place,
in the house of God,
blooms there —
at the quetzal-tassel place.
They come: the golden orioles arrive,
the turquoise roseate spoonbills arrive —
how wondrous — the quetzal birds!
Ohuaya.
All of you come from there,
from Nonohualco, throughout the world —
your quechol birds, O Giver of Life,
your creations.
Golden orioles arrive,
turquoise roseate spoonbills come —
how wondrous — the quetzal birds!
Ohuaya.
The turquoise-spoonbill flower-mat
lies spread in the turquoise book-house.
There God, the dawn-light, gazes upon it.
Your quechol companions come to meet you —
they are the turquoise birds,
crying out at dawn.
Ohuaya.
Your quechol chatters,
it comes to meet you, it calls to you in the night —
trogon, red spoonbill —
only the turquoise bird,
crying at dawn.
Ohuaya, ohuaya.
In Tamoanchan the flowers stand —
from there they come.
You are our lords here:
you, Moteucçomatzin,
you, Totoquihuatzin —
you who are rulers here,
the flower-courtyard spreads.
Well do you lift your fine song,
tinkling, tinkling there
inside the painted-writing house —
they come!
Ohuaya, ohuaya.
Oh, truly it is you
who strike the flower-drum
and the flower-rattle-cane —
you who are rulers here,
the flower-courtyard spreads.
Well do you lift your fine song,
tinkling, tinkling there
inside the painted-writing house —
they come!
Ohuaya, ohuaya.
It rings — it rings.
What does the quechol of God say
from Huitzilopochtli's place?
Already it drinks there —
let it go —
may it bloom in the heart,
there in the flower-place.
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 XXI carries manuscript heading XXII, spanning folio 17v only, ten stanzas (TEMOA §§273–282).
The named lords in this song span the Texcocan royal line. Nezahualpilli (r. 1472–1515), son of Nezahualcoyotl, was the last great lord of Texcoco before the Spanish conquest; his ipetlapan (mat of lordship) being "no longer even a little" occupied invokes the Nahua image of rule as a mat-and-seat (petlatl icpalli). Tlacahuepantzin and Ixtlilcuechahuac appear to be Texcocan nobles — Ixtlilcuechahuac appears elsewhere in the Cantares in proximity to Acolhua lords. Their placement in Quenonamican (yece ye oncan — "yet there, indeed there") marks them as honored dead. The opening question quen quittoan Ypalnemoa — "how does the Giver of Life speak?" — implies divine silence following their deaths, with the empty mat as an accusation.
The bird sequence (§§276–279) enacts the Nahua paradise as a place of perpetual birdsong and flower-bloom. The çaquan (golden oriole, Icterus spp.), xiuhquechol (turquoise roseate spoonbill — a composite of turquoise and the pink-winged quechol), and quetzaltototl (resplendent quetzal) form the standard triad of paradisiacal birds in the Cantares; the tzinitzcan (trogon, likely Trogon mexicanus) and tlauhquechol (roseate spoonbill in red-orange plumage) complete the gathering. The xiuhamoxcalic — "turquoise book-house" — is a striking compound: xiuh- (turquoise/blue-green) + amoxtli (book/manuscript) + -calic (house-interior), a manuscript pavilion overlaid with turquoise. Its pairing with God the dawn-light (tlahuizcalli) gazing suggests a scene of divine literacy — God reading in his turquoise library at first light.
The Tamoanchan reference (§280) invokes the mythic birthplace and paradise of creation, common in the Cantares as the source from which all flowers and birds proceed. The tlacuicuilolcalli — "painted-writing house" — in §§280–281 echoes the xiuhamoxcalic above, mapping the lords' earthly court onto the divine book-house. The xochihuehuetl (flower-drum) and xochayacachtli (flower-rattle-cane) are the ritual instruments of their praise, producing the tinkling (yatantilililin) that joins their song to the bird-cry at dawn.
§282's closing image — ylihuancan… ye ontlachichina… yolcueponi xochitla — is among the most compressed in the song. The quechol tlachicha (drinks/sucks nectar from flowers) and yolcueponi (blooms in the heart — yol- = heart, cueponi = to bloom/burst open): joy becomes a flowering inside the chest. The absence of ohuaya at the close is preserved from the source; the song fades into the flower-place rather than ending on the usual refrain.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Folio 17v — Manuscript Heading XXII
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 17v — Manuscript heading XXII]
[TEMOA §273]
Quen quittoan Ypalnemoa aoc achitzinca yn ipetlapan in yehuan Dios huian a in oncan amechycnocauhtehuac chichimecatl Neçahualpilla ohuaya ohuaya
[TEMOA §274]
Yaoxochitl y moyahua yeehuayo cequi cueponi ixquich oncuetlahuia quauhyotl oceloyotl huia quexquich oya y quexquich oc nemiquiuh motloc monahuac y y yehuan Dios huia y yece ye oncan a ohuaya ohuaya
[TEMOA §275]
Ohuiloac Quenonamican huiya in Tlacahuepantzin in tlatohuani ya Ixtlilcuechahuac ye ocuel achic onnemico ixpan in yehuan Dios huiya ixtlahuacan yece ye oncan ohuaya etcetera
[TEMOA §276]
Xochinquahuitl y nelhuayocan a ychan in Dios oncan cueponticac y quetzalmiahuayocan hualaci an çaquan ye'co xiuhquechol mahuiquin quetzaltototl a ohuaya etcetera
[TEMOA §277]
Yn moch ompa anhuitze in ye Nonohualco ya yn cemanahuac y yn amiquecholhuan Ipalnemoani yn amitlachihualhuan hualacia çaquan ye'co xiuhquechol mahuiquin quetzaltototl a ohuaya
[TEMOA §278]
Xiuhquecholxochinpetlacotl oncan ya mani a xiuhamoxcalic o oncan ya onoc y yehuan Dios y tlahuizcallin quitztoco mitzonyaixitia in moquecholhuançan ca xiuhtototl tlathuian tza'tzian ohuaya
[TEMOA §279]
Onchachalaca moquechol mitzonyaixitia mitzoyohuia tzinitzcan tlauhquechol çan ca xiuhtototl tlathuian tzatzian ohuaya ohuaya
[TEMOA §280]
Yn tamoan icha xochitl ye icaca ompa ye ya huitze yan toteuchua huiya tiMoteuççomatzin in Totoquihuatzin yn anme'coque ye nican xochiithualli ymanca huel anconehua y yectlin anmocuic yapa yatantilililin tlacuicuilolcaliticpan ahuitze ohuaya ohuaya
[TEMOA §281]
O anca amehuan yn ancoholinia anmoxochihuehueuh moxochayacachy yn ame'coque ye nican xochithualli manca huel anconehua y yectlin anmocuicyapa yatantilililin tlacuicuilolcaliticpan ahuitze ohuaya ohuaya
[TEMOA §282]
Ylilincohui ylihuancano tleon in quittoa a in quechol yehuan Dios y huitzilan i ylihuancan o ye ontlachichina ma ya huia ye i yolcueponi ya xochitla
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 XXI carries manuscript heading XXII, spanning folio 17v only, sections 273–282 in TEMOA's folio display. Song XXII (manuscript heading XXIII) begins at folio 18r. 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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