Showers of Songs for the Bards

The first cuicatl in Songs of the Lords of Anahuac, my English translation of the codex Romances de los señores de la Nueva España.

Let us sing once more!
Let us have another song
in the flowery House of the Sun¹
dear friends of ours!
But whoever will find them?
Where should they look?
And how is the search begun,
here beside the drums?

I grieve for those flowers,
I, your beloved friend,
the Chichimec lord
Tecayehuatzin.²
But who among us
would no longer gladden,
would no longer rejoice in
the Self-Made God?³

If there in that distant Tlaxcallan⁴
at the water’s edge, they intone
flowery songs in a stupor,
then let those tunes be sung
by drunken bards:
Xicohtencatl⁵, Temilotzin⁶ and
Lord Cuitlizcatl⁷!
Let divine words ring: ohuaya!⁸

Paradise of eagles,
House of jaguar darkness:
there, in Huexotzinco,
where the worthy
Tlacahuepan⁹ gave his life.
His garlanded eagle knights
find instant contentment
within that House of Spring.¹⁰