Song XXXVI — XXXIX (Your Glory Will Never Perish)

Song XXXVI carries manuscript heading XXXIX and spans folios 24v–25r of the Cantares Mexicanos, sections 442–463 (twenty-two sections). It follows immediately after Song XXXV on folio 24v, where the prior song's address to Tloque Nahuaque closed. Manuscript heading XL status is uncertain — as in earlier portions of the manuscript (where XXVIII was absent between Songs XXVI and XXVII), a heading number may have been skipped by the scribe. Folio 25v shows new headings beginning with XLI, placing the boundary of Song XXXVI at approximately §463; Kshatriya should verify whether §463 and the subsequent sections on 25v belong to a distinct Song XL or whether Song XXXVI extends further.

This song is a true multi-movement piece, one of the richer compositional structures encountered in this stretch of the Cantares. It opens with the theological frame familiar from earlier flower-songs — God's singularity, the transience of earth, the brotherhood of the drum — before pivoting through a warrior sequence naming Mexica nobles on the plain: the yellow jaguar weeping, the white eagle spreading its wings, the golden drum rattling in Mixcoatl's house. The brief-lordship refrain (çan achic yn tinemi ye nican — "only briefly do you live here") anchors the middle sections before the song moves into the war-flower plain proper: the Itzquemeca wound in battle-flowers, Cecepaticatzin and Tezcatzin at the drum, the obsidian-death flower spreading wide.

The song reaches its philosophical core at §§452–454: Neçahualcoyotl marvels at how anyone could imitate God's flowers, wonders whether he can survive the burning war-plain, then rests in the bedrock affirmation: "Only the flower is our shroud. Only the song — by which we rejoice greatly on earth." This is one of the Cantares' cleanest statements of xochicuicatl theology — song and flower as the sole adequate response to mortal life. §§455–459 name the Triple Alliance and express the communal existential: we know we came only to live here; we will all depart; only briefly does the Giver of Life befriend us. §§460–463 close in Neçahualcoyotl's first-person voice with an elegiac memorial for Teçoçomoctzin and Quaquautzin — lords now in Quenonamican — and close in pure grief: your glory will never perish, but only your song has reached us; I come weeping; it has gone away from us.

Key vocabulary: Ycelteotl (the Only God — ycelli = only + teotl = god; the supreme epithet of the singular divine), itzimiquilxochitl (obsidian-death flower — from itztli = obsidian + miquiztli = death + xochitl = flower; the death-in-battle flower, cognate with earlier itzimiquiztli encountered in Song XV), coçahuic ocelotl (yellow jaguar — a warrior or warrior rank), quahuixochitl (war-flower — the flower of battle and noble death), ixtlahuatl (the plain — the open battlefield, the field of war), icniuhyotl (friendship, kinship bond — the tie between companions at the drum), moteyo (your glory, your renown — mo-teyo-tl = your honorable reputation), Quenonamican (the Place of No Name — the Nahua afterworld where the dead continue to live; literally "the place where one is in some manner"), Mixcohuancalitec (inside Mixcoatl's house — the Chichimec star-serpent deity's temple, associated with the Milky Way and warriors), tonequimilol (our shroud, our wrapping — from quimiloa = to wrap; the funerary wrapping or burial cloth, here used metaphorically for flower and song as the only true preparation for death).

Song XXXVI spans folios 24v–25r, sections 442–463. 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.

Sole God, Giver of Life —
will you leave us?
Will you grow weary?
Will you hide from us?
Our hearts know it.

We only came here shaped to earth —
we came to know each other by the drum.
You are my friend. Ahuiya.
Nothing will carry it away,
nothing will destroy it
here on earth.

No one is powerful,
no one is beloved —
the Giver of Life sprinkles them all.
The eagle goes flying,
his heart the mountain jaguar.
He too is a servant,
he too goes.

The yellow jaguar weeps —
the white eagle spreads its wings,
already at the home of Xihuitl Popoca.
Truly they are there in Huexotla —
the nobles, the Chichimec lords:
Coxanatzi, my prince,
Tlamayotzin the lord.

Let them lend to one another —
the golden drum only rattles,
only rings inside Mixcoatl's house.
Ayyahue.
Forever lordship rises here.
Forever lordship, glory, kingship!
O children —
only briefly, only a little while
do you live here.

This is your lime-drum, O children, O Mexica!
You stand there in the midst of the plain —
the Itzquemeca,
wound in war-flowers.
Who would want it?
Eagles! Jaguars!

Then they struck it —
the nobles:
I am Cecepaticatzin, Tezcatzin —
wound in war-flowers.
Who would want it?
Eagles! Jaguars!

I was made an eagle,
I was turned into a jaguar —
the nobles scattered in the plain.
Who would want it?
This is the mercy of God, Giver of Life —
who would please him?
Only briefly does he befriend you.
Let there be faith.

The jaguar-flower blooms there —
the obsidian-death flower
spreads wide across the plain,
where the water stands clear.

Inside Mixcoatl's house it cools —
in the paper-banner house a song arises.
Tlacahuepantzin, Ixtlilcuechahuac
already calls out —
the singing-call has gone forth.
Friendship is proclaimed.
Nobility is declared.

How can you really do it —
how can you imitate God's flowers,
your Giver of Life?
By you we came to live on earth,
you people —
how vast is your war-flower-wealth!
My heart is afraid.
How shall I reach it?

Already it is so in the plain —
in the burning war.
The shield-lords: shields clatter,
spears fall like rain,
they scatter.
My heart is afraid.
How shall I reach it?

Only the flower is our shroud.
Only the song —
by which we rejoice greatly on earth.

Will my brotherhood perish because of me?
Will my friendship perish because of me —
that which was there?
I am Yoyontzin!
Song-calls have been sent out
by the Giver of Life.

You are Neçahualcoyotzin, Moteucçomatzin —
let us still rejoice,
let us take delight
before God, the Giver of Life!

We know —
there we will go.
It is his home.
We came only to live here on earth.

Let the turquoise-quechol flower,
the winding tzinitzcan bird —
let them wind around your flower-crown.
We wrap ourselves in them.
You are a lord —
you are Neçahualcoyotl.

Let your hearts know it thus, O nobles,
O eagle-shades —
forever are we friends.
Only briefly, here,
we will all depart.
It is his home.

I am troubled, I feel poor —
I am only a noble child,
I am Neçahualcoyotl.
Through flowers, through songs
I remember the nobles who have gone —
Teçoçomoctzin,
Quaquautzin.

They truly still live in Quenonamican —
may I follow these nobles!
May I carry our flower to them,
may I reach them through noble song —
Teçoçomoctzin,
Quaquautzin.

Your glory will never perish,
my lord Teçoçomoctzin —
but now only your song has come.
Therefore I come weeping,
I come feeling bereft.
It passes away.

I come only troubled,
I feel poor —
no longer, never again —
it has gone away from us here on earth.
Where does it go?

Colophon

Song XXXVI of the Cantares Mexicanos, manuscript heading XXXIX, spanning folios 24v–25r of the manuscript held at the Biblioteca Nacional de México. Sections 442–463 (twenty-two sections). The Cantares Mexicanos is a colonial-era manuscript of 91 Nahuatl songs — flower-songs, war-songs, grief-songs, and syncretic devotional songs — compiled in the mid-sixteenth century by indigenous and colonial scribes in central Mexico. These songs preserve a living oral tradition that predates the Spanish conquest; they are among the most significant documents of pre-Columbian and early colonial Nahua literature.

This translation was made directly from Classical Nahuatl. Alonso de Molina's Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana (1571) and Frances Karttunen's An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl were consulted for lexical verification after the English draft was complete. No existing English translation was consulted during translation. The Blood Rule is maintained.

Song XXXVI is a multi-movement memorial flower-song in which Neçahualcoyotl's voice emerges gradually through a war-flower preamble and crystallizes in an elegiac close. The song's philosophical center is §454 — "Only the flower is our shroud, only the song" (çanyo in xochitl in tonequimilol, çanyo in cuicatl) — one of the most compressed statements of xochicuicatl theology in the entire manuscript: song and flower are not consolations for death but its only adequate shroud, the wrapping that makes it bearable and meaningful. The memorial sequence for Teçoçomoctzin and Quaquautzin (§§460–463) closes the song in Neçahualcoyotl's first-person grief, reaching toward the dead in Quenonamican through the only bridge that holds: noble song.

Boundary note: §463 splits across folios 25r–25v. Folio 25v shows subsequent sections (§§464+) and new manuscript headings beginning with XLI. It is unclear whether a MS XL heading is present or absent; Kshatriya should verify whether Song XXXVI ends at §463 or extends further on 25v before XLI begins.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Cantares Mexicanos — In Cuicatl

Classical Nahuatl source text from the UNAM TEMOA digital platform (temoa.iib.unam.mx), Cantares Mexicanos manuscript, folios 24v–25r, sections 442–463. The Cantares Mexicanos is held at the Biblioteca Nacional de México. Digital facsimile and transcription by UNAM's Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliográficas. Reproduced for non-commercial archival use under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

Ycelteotl Ypalnemoani ticiehuiz tontlatzihuiz titechonmotlatiliz aya yuh quimatin toyol a ohuaya ohuaya

Yn çan ticpictinemico in tlalticpac y tontiximatico in huehuetitlan y titocniuh ahuiya y ça actle yc yaz y ça actle ic ompolihuiz a in tlalticpac a ohuaya ohuaya

Ayac tlaquahuac ayac tlaçotli conayachihua Ypalnemoani quauhtlin patlantiuh yyollo in tepetl ocelotl y no tlacoti no yauh in nica ohuaya ohuaya

Çan coçahuic ocelotl y ye chocaticaca yahue a iztacquauhtli ya mapipitzoa ye ichan Xihuitl Popoca y tlacaço yehuan in Huexotlalpan in tepilhua huiya chichimecatl teuctli a in Coxanatzi nopiltzin o Tlamayotzin teuctla ohuaya

Yn ma onnetlanehuilo y yeehuaya çan cocomocaticac y teocuitlahuehuetl tzitzilicaticac o Mixcohuancalitec ayyahue a'nochipa teuctihua ye nica huia a'nochipa teucyotl mahuiçotl tla'tocayotl o antepilhuan yn çan achic oo çan cuel achic a yn tinemi ye nican ohuaya ohuaya

Tiçayo yn amohuehueuh o antepilhuan y anmexica yeehuaya an oncan ya icac y ixtlahuatl itic ye oncan a yn itzquemeca huiya in quahuixochitica malinticac y at ac connequi ohuaye quauhtin ocelotl ohuaya

Y çan ca nima ye yehua contzotzonque o a in tepilhuan niCecepaticatzin in Tezcatzin huiya in quahuixochitica malinticac y at ac connequi ohuaye quauhtin ocelotl ohuaya

Quauhtli nechihualoc huiya ocelotl ye necuepaloc a in tepilhuan y nepopoyahualoc nequauhtzetzelolo yn ixtlahuatl ytec y can aca ac connequi yehua in itlacnelil yehuan Dios Ipalnemoani aquin conhuelmatian cuel achic a y ça ye conmocniuhtia ma ontlaneltoco ya ohuaya ohuaya

Oceloxochitl oncuepontoc ye onca huiya itzimiquilxochitl huehuelixtimani a ixtlahuatl itec y a in atl ixcoya ohuaya

Çan Mixcohuancalitec a ycehua ya amapancalcomocuicati a ye hualmotzatzilia in Tlacahuepantzi Ixtlilcuechahuac cuicanahuatilo ye onnahuatilo yn icniuhyotl aya yhuan nahuatilo yn tecpillotl a ohuaya

Quen huel xoconchihua quen huel xoconyanenequi yn ixochiuh in Dios a mopalnemoani mopal tiyanemico yn tlalticpac y timacehualti quexquich onmania moquahuixochinecuiltonol a noyollo mamahui quen onaciz a ohuaya ohuaya

O ach ye iuhca ixtlahuaca tlachinolitic y chimalteuctli yehuaya chimalcocomocaya tlacochtli pixahuin tzetzelihui yehua noyollo mamahui quen nonaciz a ohuaya ohuaya

Çanyo in xochitl in tonequimilol çanyo in cuicatl ic huehuetzin telel a in tlalticpac a ohuaya ohuaya

Yn mach noca ompolihuiz in cohuayotl mach noca ompolihuiz yn icniuhyotl yn onoya yehua niYoyontzin ohuaye on cuicatillanon yn Ipalnemoani ohuaya ohuaya

TiNeçahualcoyotzin Moteucçomatzin ma oc xonahuiacan xocoahuiltican Dios Ypalnemoani ohuaya ohuaya

Onmatia ompa tonyazque o ye ichan o çanio o ye nican in tinemico tlaticpac a ohuaya ohuaya

Ma xiuhquecholxochitla o çan tzinitzcan in malintoc oo in mocpacxochiuh ça ye tonmoquimiloa çan titlatoani ya tiNeçahualcoyotl a ohuaya

Yn ma ya moyol iuh quimati antepilhuan o anquauhtamocelo a'mochipan titocnihuan a can cuel achic nican timochi toçazque o y ye ichan o ohuaya

Nitlayocoya y nicnotlamati ya çan nitepiltzin niNeçahualcoyotl huiya xochitica yeehuan cuicatica niquimilnamiqui tepilhuan o a yn oyaque yehua Teçoçomoctzin o yehuan Qua'quauhtzin a ohuaya ohuaya

Oc nellin nemoan Quenonamican ma ya niquintoca inin tepilhuan huiya ma ya niquimonitquili toxochiuh aya ma ic ytech nonaci yectli yan cuicatli Teçoçomoctzin o yehuan Qua'quauhtzin a ohuaya ohuaya

O ayc ompolihuiz in moteyo nopiltzin tiTeçoçomoctzin anca çan ye in mocuic oa yca nihualchoca yn ça nihualicnotlamati conon tiya ehuan ohuaya ohuaya

Çan nihualayocoya o nicnotlamati a ayoquic oo ayoc quen manian titechyaitaquiuh in tlalticpac y canon tiya yehua ohuaya ohuaya

Source Colophon

Nahuatl source text from the Cantares Mexicanos manuscript, folios 24v–25r, sections 442–463. Accessed via UNAM TEMOA (temoa.iib.unam.mx), Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliográficas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. The manuscript is held at the Biblioteca Nacional de México, Mexico City. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Reproduced for non-commercial archival use.

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