Nezahualcóyotl: 11 poems of the Nahuatl Poet King

Nezahualcóyotl is the name of a king nicknamed "the Poet King," who ruled for a long time over the Texcoco region, in pre-Columbian Mexico, some decades before the conquest. He is considered a distinguished exponent of pre-Hispanic poetry, particularly that written in Spanish. Nahuatl, whose knowledge comes to us thanks to the compilations made in some manuscripts ancient.

For some authors, it is difficult to agree if the King Poet is the most outstanding or not of the poets of his time. This is because, for modern thought, an author is judged by his originality. But originality has not always been a criterion for evaluating an artist's performance. Indeed, before modernity, genius was judged based on demonstrated excellence in handling tradition.

King Nezahualcóyotl responds, as is to be expected, to the stylistic and thematic patterns of his time, and stands out to the extent that he clarifies that tradition.

Poems of Nezahualcóyotl

In the poetry of Nezahualcóyotl we can identify three thematic lines or poetic genres that are inserted within the Nahuatl lyrical tradition: the songs to the anguish, called

icnocuícatl; the compositions dedicated to poetry, known as xoxicuícatl, and the poems that sing to the divine, also called teocuícatl. Here is a selection of the 11 best poems of the Poet King of the Nahuas.

Icnocuícatl or songs to anguish

The poems that follow could be classified as icnocuícatl or songs to the anguish, a poetic genre typical of Nahuatl literature, according to what was stated by the scholar Zora Rohousová in the article called "Under the flowering tree."

In these poems that we will quote below, the poet is aware of the terrible and inexorable fate of death. Death is not represented as a threat to the individual, but as an affront to the meaning of human existence. No one is to live forever. The Poet King knows that his status as king will not save him or anyone else. The Poet King is, in front of the word, a naked man who looks equally condemned, and, in this condition, he is twinned with everything human.

The Poet King uses one of the most beautiful images of the Nahuatl language: "Like a painting / we will be erasing ourselves." Image, phantasmagoria, announced absence. This is how life and death are represented, the transience of existence, the nostalgia for the trail. "Where are we going?" He wonders. "To the place of the fleshless," he replies.

Other poems will revolve around these questions. It is only to look at his word to understand the human density of Nezahualcóyotl.

1. I perceive the secret

I perceive the secret, the hidden:
O ye gentlemen!
So we are, we are mortal,
four by four we men,
we will all have to go,
we will all die on earth.
Nobody in jade,
no one will turn to gold:
On earth it will be saved.
We will all leave
there, in the same way.
No one will be left
together we will have to perish,
We will go to his house like this.
Like a painting
we will be erasing.
Like a flower,
we will go drying
here on earth.
As a garment made of the plumage of a fowl,
of the precious rubber-necked bird,
we will run out
we go to his house.
She came up here.
The sadness spins
of those who live inside.
Meditate on it, gentlemen,
eagles and tigers,
even if you were made of jade,
even if you were made of gold,
you will also go there,
to the place of the fleshy.
We will have to disappear
no one will be left.

2. I'm sad

I am sad, I grieve,
I, Mr. Nezahualcóyotl.
With flowers and with songs
I remember princes
to those who left,
to Tezozomoctzin, to Quaquauhtzin.
They really live
there where somehow it exists.
If only I could follow princes,
bring them our flowers!
If i could make mine
the beautiful songs of Tezozomoctzin!
Your name will never perish
Oh my lord, you, Tezozomoctzin!
Thus, missing your songs,
I have come to grieve,
I have only come to be sad,
I tear myself apart.
I have come to be sad, I grieve.
You are not here anymore, not anymore,
in the region where somehow it exists,
you left us without provision on earth,
for this, I tear myself apart.

3. Where will we go?

Where will we go
where death does not exist?
More, for this I will live crying?
May your heart straighten:
here no one will live forever.
Even princes came to die,
funeral packages are burned.
May your heart straighten:
here no one will live forever.

4. I ask

I Nezahualcóyotl ask:
Do you really live with roots in the earth?
Nothing is forever on earth:
Just a little here.
Although it is made of jade, it breaks,
Even if it is made of gold, it breaks
Even if it is a quetzal plumage, it tears.
Not forever on earth:
Just a little here.

Xoxicuícatl or songs to poetry

The following selection of poems can be classified as Xoxicuícatl or songs to poetry. In them, the poetic voice reflects on the poetic doing itself.

Despite the fact that everything seems futile, that everything is doomed to extinction, Nezahualcóyotl knows that the word is eternal. In these poems, the reference to poetry is central. Poetry itself is the subject in question. This is what many critics call aesthetic "self-reflexivity."

The word is presented as the only eternal thing, as that capable of withstanding the passage of time. The written word is the presence after the absence.

5. The flowers will not run out

My flowers will not end,
My songs will not cease.
I sing them up,
They are distributed, they are scattered.
Even when the flowers
They wither and yellow,
They will be taken there,
Inside the house
Of the bird with golden feathers.

6. I have arrived

I have come here
I am Yoyontzin.
I'm only looking for the flowers
on earth I have come to cut them.
Here I already cut the precious flowers,
for me I cut those of friendship:
are they your being, oh prince!
I am Nezahualcóyotl, Mr. Yoyontzin.
I'm already looking hurriedly
my true song,
and so I also search
to you, our friend.
There is the meeting:
it is an example of friendship.
For a short time I am glad,
for a short time he lives happily
my heart on earth.
As long as I exist, I, Yoyontzin,
I long for the flowers
one by one I pick them up,
here where we live.
I want, I yearn
friendship, nobility,
community.
With flowery songs I live.
As if it were made of gold
like a fine necklace,
like the broad plumage of a quetzal,
so I appreciate
your true song:
I'm happy with him.
Who is it that dances here,
in the place of music,
in the spring house?
It's me, Yoyontzin!
I hope my heart enjoys it.

7. My heart understands

At last my heart understands:
I hear a song
I contemplate a flower ...
May they not wither!

8. Rejoice!

Rejoice with the flowers that intoxicate,
those that are in our hands.
Let them be already
the flower necklaces.
Our rainy weather flowers,
fragrant flowers,
their corollas are already opening.
The bird walks there,
chatters and sings,
He comes to know the house of God.
Only with our flowers
we are pleased.
Only with our songs
your sadness perishes.
Oh sirs, with this,
your disgust dissipates.
The giver of life invents them,
he has made them descend
the inventor of himself,
pleasant flowers,
with them your displeasure dissipates.

Teocuícatl or songs to the divine

Part of the essential concerns of the ancient world has to do with the gods. For this reason, poems of the genre also appear Teocuícatl or songs to the divine.

Nezahualcóyotl, in many respects, was a worthy representative of his culture. However, something distinguishes him: he does not believe in the multiplicity of pre-Hispanic gods, but rather approaches the belief in a single, invisible, immaterial or, in a certain way, abstract god. He is, in a sense, a monotheist.

The Poet King thirsts for God, whom he perceives as a unique being, the guiding principle of the order of the universe and the giver of life. This God, who has created himself, is not like Jesus the Redeemer either. Rather, he is an arbitrary god, who hardly gives life, but who does not interfere in the world.

9. Not anywhere

Nowhere can he be
the home of the inventor himself.
God our lord
everywhere he is invoked,
everywhere he is also revered.
He seeks his glory, his fame on earth.
He is the one who invents things,
he is the one who invents himself: god.
Everywhere he is invoked,
everywhere he is also revered.
He seeks his glory, his fame on earth.
No one can here
nobody can be friend
of the giver of life:
he is only invoked,
next to him,
together with him,
he can live on earth.
The one who finds it,
he only knows this well: he is invoked,
next to him, next to him,
he can live on earth.
No one is really your friend
Oh giver of life!
just as if among the flowers
we would look for someone,
that's how we look for you,
we who live on earth,
while we are by your side.
Your heart will get tired.
Only for a short time
we will be with you and by your side.
The giver of life drives us crazy,
it intoxicates us here.
Can no one be by his side,
succeed, reign on earth?
Only you alter things
as our heart knows:
Can no one be by her side,
succeed, reign on earth?

10. Inside the sky

Only there inside the sky
you invent your word,
giver of life.
What will you determine?
Will you have annoyance here?
Will you hide your fame and your glory on earth?
What will you determine?
No one can be a friend
of the giver of life.
Friends, eagles, tigers,
Where will we really go?
We do things wrong, oh friend.
For this reason you do not grieve,
that makes us sick, causes us death.
Strive, we'll all have to go
to the region of mystery.

11. With flowers you write

The Giver of Life is the beginning of himself, of the life of the orb, but he is also the beginning of the word. God is a verb, he is a creative word, he is poetry.

With flowers you write, Giver of Life,
with songs you give color,
with shady edges
to those who are to live on earth.
Then you will destroy eagles and tigers,
only in your book of paintings do we live,
here on earth.
With black ink you will erase
what was the brotherhood,
the community, the nobility.
You shade those who are to live on earth.

Nezahualcóyotl and the Nahuatl poetic tradition

Written poetry was not then a widespread practice. It was hardly cultivated by a small circle of intellectuals who, together, reflected on the conditions of human existence through poems, which were sung or accompanied with music.

In the book Literature in Ancient Mexico, published by the Ayacucho Library, it is argued that the poets of the Nezahualcóyotl generation were concerned with issues such as the inexorable nature of death; the transience of existence; the relationship between life, pain and anguish; the question about the afterlife and, finally, the enigma of the existence of man in front of the “giver of Life”. But, in addition, they were interested in reflection on the very nature of poetry, which they related to the divine.

Classification of Nahuatl poetry

These themes are reflected, in some way, in the literary genres, or rather, poetic genres that they practiced. Zora Rohousová says that pre-Hispanic poetry can be classified as:

• Teocuícatl: the song to the gods.
• Xoxicuícatl: songs to poetry (actually, xoxi means 'flower', but in this context, the 'flower' becomes the metaphorical image of poetry).
• Yaocuícatl: songs of war.
• Icnocuícatl: songs to anguishicnotl means orphan, and is therefore used as an image of anguish).

Characteristics of Nahuatl poetry

In addition to writing around these genres, which are actually topics of interest, the Nahuatl language poets shared various resources and lent each other images and metaphors. Among the most used style characteristics, Rohousová mentions the following:

• Repeatability.
• Choruses.
• Parallels, which consist of the use of repeated ideas expressed in different ways.
• Difrasism, that is, the use of two different words to refer to the same concept.
• Brooch words, that is, important concepts that are repeated frequently.
• Interjective words, which are voices without meaning, whose purpose is to create rhythmic effects.

Biography of Nezahualcóyotl

Born in 1402 and died in 1472, Nezahualcóyotl was a king, soldier, poet, architect and engineer. His name translates to "the hungry coyote" or "the fasting coyote."

Son of King Ixtlilxóchitl and Matlalcihuatzin, Aztec princess, he received the highest education in the Palace, as corresponded to his hierarchy. From the education he received, he learned Chichimec-Toltec doctrine, wisdom, and tradition.

After the murder of his father when Nezahualcóyotl was barely 16 years old, the royal family lost the dominions of Texcoco. But finally, after campaigns and his strategic alliance with the Mexica-Tenochtitlan, Nezahualcóyotl manages to recover them and from there he expands his power.

King Nezahualcóyotl was known for his works as an architect and engineer. He had zoological gardens, aqueducts, palaces and temples built. Furthermore, he was a staunch legislator.

He was against the sacrificial rituals, but although he could not finish them by the character dominant of the religion of his culture, he did manage to restrict it to being applied only to prisoners of war.

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