Inscribe Our Names

The twentieth cuicatl in Songs of the Lords of Anahuac, my English translation of the codex Romances de los señores de la Nueva España. It also appears in less corrupted form in the other poetry codex, Songs of Mexico (Cantares mexicanos) as song 73, where it is labeled a yaocuicatl or “war song.”

I begin my song.
I intone that
which is the hymn
of the Giver of Life.¹

The Enemy of Both Sides²
offers melodies for holy days:
The Self-Made One³
is coming, you princes —
Let all borrow blooms
from…