The Human Beast of Chalco

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

Ah! There above
I heard the holy hymn¹
in the home of the noble
Coacuechtli —²
Mountain trogons with paper flowers
that spread like myriad golden plumes.
Adorn yourselves with these on Earth!

Just yonder, beyond,³
poetry is spreading
in the home of the lord
Chief Chalchiuhtlatonac —⁴
Mountain trogons with paper flowers
that spread like myriad golden plumes.
Adorn yourselves with these on Earth!

Now you believe,
High Priest Cuateotl,
that your soul returns!⁵
A flood of eagles⁶ will spread
across the face of the Earth.
Transformed into an ocean,
it surges as he is released —
The Human Beast!⁷
The Chichimec!⁸

I sip my chocolate:
my soul savors it,
so I give the drink
to the very soul
of the Giver of Life.
O High Priest of Tlalmanalco,⁹
if only your rage would fly
once more into the fray!

And off they rush,
O God —
their shield flowers
ringing like ankle bells,
growing fainter as they go,
fading to nothing
on the flaming field.¹⁰

You are joyful, Giver of Life!¹¹
You are joyful, our lord and god,¹²
that grandmothers
and grandfathers
are departing.
We rebuild Chalco there,
and that feast day,
it comes all the same,
for divine commands reach
the Unknowable Realm.¹³
Right. So be it.
We are Chalcans, after all.