Song XXV — XXVI (Come, Ring Your Flower-Drum)
Song XXV carries manuscript heading XXVI and spans eleven sections across folios 19r and 19v (§§305–315). No descriptive rubric accompanies the heading beyond the Roman numeral — the same pattern seen in Songs XX–XXIV. The song belongs to the devotional flower-song tradition (xochicuicatl) rather than the war-lament register, and its structure is that of a singer's arrival and offering: a call to play, a vision of birds and the flower-tree, and a first-person sequence of coming, offering, dancing, and departing.
The opening (§§305–307) is an invocation to music. The singer calls on a companion — or addresses themselves — to ring the flower-drum (§305), then beholds the birds who sing over it: the turquoise-quetzal (xiuhquechol), the trogon (tzinitzcan), the roseate spoonbill (tlauhquechol) (§306). The central vision of the opening is §307: a flower-tree stands beside the drum, and upon it the quetzal-quechol bird makes its home. Upon that flower, Nezahualcoyotl — the philosopher-king of Texcoco, poet of the Cantares tradition — goes on singing flower-songs and rejoicing. Nezahualcoyotl as the tree-dwelling bird-singer is an image of the ideal poet: the one who lives in the flower, who does not merely perform song but becomes it.
The middle sections (§§308–313) repeat a refrain that anchors the singer's identity: nicuicanitl huiya xochitl noyollo nicmana nocuic — "I the singer — flower is my heart; I lay out my song." This refrain appears in §§308–309 and again after the joy-refrain of §§310–311. The singer describes a journey: arriving from the sky-written dawn (§308), coming to the water's edge for God (§309), and finding that all of God's flowers and songs bring joy wherever the singer goes (§§310–311). In §311 the singer receives all things in the book-house (amoxcalli) and the red-palace (tlauhcalli) — the two buildings recall the writing-houses of Tenochtitlan and Colhuacan from Song XXIII, here serving as repositories of the gift that has been given. §§312–313 add movement: the singer dances, wears a necklace of cacao-flower, delights in flowers of every kind — yellow flower, quetzal-eyed flower — and makes laughter before God.
The close is intimate and sorrowful beneath the joy. §314 names the goal of the journey: the singer comes to the "place of contentment" (cemelecan) — a word built from ceme, whole or complete, and resonant with the idea of a place where longing is finally satisfied. There the singer offers complete joy to God and, in the same breath, dissolves grief (noconpolotihuitz notlayocol — I come to disperse my sadness). The final section (§315) is a brief image of censing: the singer walks the eagle-courtyard, fans the flower-courtyard where it lies — a closing ritual gesture, the offering of sacred smoke to the place of the eagle, the warrior, the flower.
Song XXV spans folios 19r–19v, sections 305–315. 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.
Come, ring out your flower-drum —
you are a singer.
Let popcorn-flower and cacao-flower
scatter and rain down
here before the drum.
Let us go rejoicing together.
Ohuaya.
Only the turquoise-quetzal,
the trogon, the roseate spoonbill —
there they sing, they give voice
over the flower.
Ohuaya.
There the flower-tree stands
beside the drum.
Only upon it the quetzal-bird dwells —
the bird makes its home there.
Nezahualcoyotl goes on singing flower-songs
upon the flower —
with it he rejoices.
Ohuaya.
There, there — there, there —
from that far place I come.
In the sky within,
water painted at dawn —
I come to offer greeting.
I the singer — flower is my heart;
I lay out my song.
Ohuaya.
I only came to the water's edge —
I only came to make joy before God.
I the singer — flower is my heart;
I offer my song.
Ohuaya.
Ah now —
great one, you are the sky-divine, God himself.
All your flowers, all your songs —
wherever I make joy, it carries over.
I, the singer.
Ohuaya.
All was given to me there —
I shall find rest.
My quetzal plume sways,
my curved staff.
My flowers spread out
in the book-house where it stands,
the red-palace where it rests.
All your flowers, all your songs —
wherever I make joy, it carries over.
I, the singer.
Ohuaya.
I came here — look at me.
I the singer — I came to bring joy,
I came to make laughter before God.
I, the singer.
Ohuaya.
I make myself a necklace of cacao-flower —
I delight in flowers of every kind,
I dance.
The yellow flower, the quetzal-eyed flower —
my curved staff; I shall find rest.
I came to bring joy,
I came to make laughter before God.
I, the singer.
Ohuaya.
Ah, to the place of contentment —
I came here, to your water-gate.
Our revered Father, God himself —
I come to bring you complete joy;
I come to dissolve my grief.
I only go about censing
the eagle-courtyard —
I fan the flower-courtyard where it rests.
Colophon
Translated from Classical Nahuatl by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
The opening imperative xicyahuelintzotzona renders as "ring out" rather than "beat" because tzotzona connotes the reverberant, resonant strike of the huehuetl (standing drum) — not mere percussion but sound released into space. Moxochihuehueuh = your flower-drum, the huehuetl adorned with or identified as a flower-instrument.
§306's birds — xiuhquechol (turquoise-quetzal), tzinitzcan (trogon, Trogon mexicanus or similar), tlauhquechol (roseate spoonbill, Platalea ajaja) — form the standard Cantares triad of paradisiacal birds, each associated with the flower-world and the warrior afterlife.
§307's xochicuicuicatinemi is a compound: xochi (flower) + cuica + cuicatinemi (goes on singing) — he goes on perpetually singing flower-songs, a present continuous that suggests the eternal quality of Nezahualcoyotl's poetic life. The flower-tree by the drum is probably the great tree of Tamoanchan, the primordial creation-garden from which flowers fell to earth.
§308's atl icuiliuhya tlahuizcalla — "water-writing at dawn" — is one of the more compressed images in the song: the sky written with water-light at the break of day, the singer emerging from it as if inscribed in the dawn.
§310's tilhuicateotl renders "sky-divine" — a direct address compounding ilhuicatl (sky/heaven) + teotl (god/divine force). The etcetera marking at §310 indicates the scribe used the scribal abbreviation for repeat (etc.) — the full refrain continues as in §311.
§311's amoxcalli (book-house, codex-house) and tlauhcalli (red-palace, dawn-palace) appear in Song XXIII as well, where they mark the writing-houses of Tenochtitlan and Colhuacan. Here they appear as the place where the singer's received gift — all the flowers and songs — rests and is housed.
§314's cemelecan = the place of contentment, from ceme- (whole, complete) — a goal-location, the place where longing is satisfied. Nimitzcecemeltitihuitz = "I come to you bringing complete gladness/joy" — a causative compound of cemele- + direction + huitz (coming). Noconpolotihuitz notlayocol = "I come dispersing my grief" — poloa (to disperse, dissolve, destroy) applied reflexively to sorrow.
§315's nicpopoxahuayan = "I go about censing / I am in the place of censing" — from popoch- (incense, censing smoke) + -hua- + locative-continuous. The eagle-courtyard (quauhithualli) and flower-courtyard (xochithualli) are ritual spaces of the temple precinct. The song closes in the act of offering — the singer fans sacred smoke through the courts.
All English independently derived from Classical Nahuatl. Karttunen's Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl and Molina's Vocabulario consulted for lexical verification only; no existing English translation of the Cantares Mexicanos was consulted during the translation process.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Manuscript Heading XXVI
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 19r — manuscript heading XXVI]
[Section 305, folio 19r]
xicyahuelintzotzona moxochihuehueuh ticuicanitl yeehuaya izquixochitli man cacahuaxochitli onmoyahua ontzetzelihui nica huehuetitlan man tahuiyacan ohuaya ohuaya
[Section 306, folio 19r]
çan xiuhquechool tzinitzcan tlauhquechol oncan oncuican tla'tohuaya xochitl paqui hoo ylilio ylilililincohui yao ayyaha ohuaya ohuaya
[Section 307, folio 19r]
A onca ya ycaqui y xochinquahuitl y huehuetitlan a ayahue çan ye ytech onnemi ya in quetzalinquechol yn tototl ypan mochiuhtinemi o yn Neçahualcoyotzin o xochicuicuicatinemi o y xochitl a yc paqui hoo a ylilio a ylilililincohui yao ayyaha ohuaya ohuaya
[Section 308, folio 19r]
Nehco nehco yapapa yapapa ompa nihuitz huiya ilhuicatl ytic atl icuiliuhya tlahuizcalla yehua oani nitlapalhuan nicuicanitl huiya xochitl noyollo nicmana nocuic ohuaya ohuaya
[Section 309, folio 19r]
Çan nihualacico quiyapan ohuaya çan nicahahuiltico yehuan Dios nicuicanitl huiya xochitl noyollo nicmana nocuic ohuaya ohuaya
[Section 310, folio 19r]
Ala yyan que machon machon hue tehua tilhuicateotl yehuan Dios quexquich moxochiuh quexquich mocuic ycayan nonteahuiltiya coyapano nicuicanitl ac ohuaya etcetera
[Section 311, folio 19r]
moch oncan nimacoc nehcacehuaz huia noquetzalin poyoma nochiquacol namaxochihui amoxcalla ymanca tlauhcalli imancan quexquich moxochiuh quexquich mocuic ycayan nonteahuiltiya coyapano nicuicanitl ohuaya
[Section 312, folio 19r]
ama yye yao aye yao aye nihualacic ayyahua xinechaitacan nicuicanitl huiya nicahuiltico nichuehuetzquitia yehuan Dios huiya nicuicanitl ohuaya ohuaya
[Section 313, folio 19r]
cacahuaxochitl nicnocozcati nepapan xochitl nonahuia nonnittotia coçahuic xochitl quetzalyxochio nochiquacol ne'cacehuaz huiya nicahuiltico nichuehuetzquitia yehuan Dios huiya nicuicanitl ohuaya ohuaya
[Section 314, folios 19r–19v]
a'cemelecan nihualacic ayyahue moquiappan yehuantotatzin yehuan Dios huiya nimitzcecemeltitihuitz aya noconpolotihuitz notlayocol ahua yhua yyaho yyao yatatantilili nihue
[Section 315, folio 19v]
Çan nicpopoxahuayan quauhithualli yehuaya noconehcapehuia xochithualli manica huiya ohua yyao yyao yatantilili nihuelincuica ohuiya
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 XXV carries manuscript heading XXVI, spanning folios 19r–19v, sections 305–315. Manuscript heading XXVII begins at folio 19v following section 315. 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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