Only Our Story Survives

The twenty-fourth cuicatl in Songs of the Lords of Anahuac, my English translation of the codex Romances de los señores de la Nueva España. The song also appears in the other Nahuatl poetry manuscript, Cantares mexicanos, as song 82, canto C, where it is labeled a “melahuac xopancuicatl” or “true song of spring.” A drum cadence is also given: totototo/tototototo tititi totititi toti titi tititi.

First, let all be friends.
May we recognize one another
through these flowers.¹
Hymns will be intoned,
and we will leave for his home.²
Only our story³ survives
forever here on Earth.

When we have abandoned
our sadness, our songs,
then will all be recognized.
Hymns will be intoned,
and we will leave for his home.
Only our story survives
forever here on Earth.

My soul hears the songs,
and I weep, I grieve
for those blooms —
We will abandon the earth
where we just lustily lend them.⁴
Oh! We will leave for his home.

Let me garland myself
with myriad blooms —
Let them lie in my hands!
Let them crown my head!
We will abandon the earth
where we just lustily lend them.
Oh! We…