THE POEM BOOK

AZTEC, MAYAN, & INCA: NEZAHUALCOYOTL, DZITBALCHE, & PACHACUTEC 
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- translations and/or histories of the poets provided by John Curl

DZITBALCHE
I will kiss your mouth

I will kiss your mouth
between the plants of the milpa.
Shimmering beauty,
you have to hurry.

IN THE ORIGINAL ANCIENT MAYAN:

DZITBALCHE

Bin in tz'uutz' a chi

Bin in tz'uutz' a chi
Tut yam x cohl
X ciichpam zac
Y an y an a u ahal

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TPB's notes: from translator John Curl:

The Songs of Dzitblaché include most of the ancient Maya lyric poetry that has survived. In these songs, the poet speaks of personal feelings and ideas, of love, philosophy, ancient rituals and spiritual values.

The original title page reads, "The Book of the Dances of the Ancients that it was the custom to perform here in the towns when the whites had not yet arrived. This book was made by the honorable Mr. Bam, great-grandson of the great Ah Kulel of the town of Dzitbalché in the year 1440." The title, "Songs of Dzitbalché," was given to the collection by the first translator into Spanish, Alfredo Barrera Vásquez, and it is by this name that it is generally known. Written above the title is the word kolomché - a ceremonial dance - and below it is the first poem, "I Will Kiss Your Lips."

The manuscript itself was probably written in the 1700s, though it could be a copy of an earlier manuscript. Some of the material it contains is clearly much older, probably from the 1400s. A number of the poems incorporate fragments of ancient ceremonies; others are descriptions of those ceremonies. It is not always possible to distinguish between the two. The poems about the ceremonies were written by Ah Bam during the colonial period, while the cermonies described are clearly ancient.

The Yucatec Maya Language:

The Mayence language family diverged from a common stock over the centuries into the large variety of related languages found throughout the Maya region today, much as the Romance languages diverged from Latin. There are 28 Mayance languages with numerous dialects. Yucatecan Maya however, forms one of the three major subgroupings, the others being Huastecan and Southern Mayan. All the Mayance language speakers together total about 4 million people. Yucatec Maya remains understandable throughout the Yucatán peninsula, despite minor local differences. Over 450,000 people speak Maya in Yucatán today.

See more at: http://red-coral.net/Dzit.html

NEZAHUALCOYOTL

Song of the flight

In vain I was born. Ayahue.

In vain I left the house of god and came to earth. I am so wretched! Ohuaya, Ohuaya!

I wish I'd never been born, truly that I'd never come to earth. That's what I say. But what is there to do? Do I have to live among the people? What then? Princes, tell me! Aya. Ohuaya, Ohuaya!

Do I have to stand on earth? What is my destiny? My heart suffers. I am unfortunate. You were hardly my friend here on earth, Life Giver. Ohuaya, Ohuaya!

How to live among the people? Does He who sustains and lifts men have no discretion? Go, friends, live in peace, pass your life in calm! While I have to live stooped, with my head bent down when I am among the people. Ohuaya, Ohuaya!

For this I cry - Yeehuya!- feeling desolate, abandoned among men on the earth. How do you decide your heart - Yeehuya! - Life Giver? Already your anger is vanishing, your compassion welling! Aya! I am at your side, God. Do you plan my death? Ohuaya, Ohuaya!

Is it true we take pleasure, we who live on earth? Is it certain that we live to enjoy ourselves on earth? But we are all so filled with grief. Are bitterness and anguish the destiny of the people of earth? Ohuaya, Ohuaya!

But do not anguish, my heart! Recall nothing now. In truth it hardly gains compassion on this earth. Truly you have come to increase bitterness at your side, next to you, Oh Life Giver. Yyao yyahue auhuayye oo huiya.

I only look for, I remember my friends. Perhaps they will come one more time, perhaps they will return to life? Or only once do we perish, only one time here on earth? If only our hearts did not suffer! next to, at your side, Life Giver. Yyao yyahue auhuayye oo huiya.

IN THE ORIGINAL ANCIENT AZTEC:

NEZAHUALCOYOTL

In chololiztli cuicatl

O nen notlacatli. Ayahue!

O nen nonquizaco teotl ichan in tlalticpac. Ninotolinia. Ohuaya ohuaya!

In ma on nel nonquiz in ma on nel nontlacat ah niquitohua yece. Yeehuaya! Tlen naiz anonohuaco tepilhuan? At teixco ninemi? Quen huel xon mimati. Aya Ohuaya ohuaya!

Ye ya nonehuaz in tlalticpac? Ye ya tie in nolhuil? Zan nitoliniya tonehua noyollo tinocniuh in ayaxcan in tlalticpac ye nican. Ohuaya ohuaya.

Quen in nemohua—Aya!—in tenahuac? Mach ilihuiztia nemia tehuic teyaconi. Aya! Nemi zan ihuiyan zan icemelia. In zan nonopechteca zan nitolotinemi a in tenahuac. Ohuaya ohuaya.

Zan ye ica nichoca—Yeehuaya!—nicnotlamati no nicnocahualoc in tenahuac tlalticpac. Quen quinequi noyollo—Yeehuaya!—ipal nemohuani? Ma oc melel on quiza a icnopillotl. Huiya! Ma oc timalihui—Aya!—monahuac titeotl. At ya nech mikitlani? Ohuaya ohuaya.

Azomo ye nelli tipaqui ti ya nemi tlalticpac? Ah ca za tinemi ihuan ti hual paqui in tlalticpac. Ah ca mochi ihui titotolinia. Ah ca no chichic teopouhqui tenahuac ye nican. Ohuaya ohuaya.

Ma xi icnotlamati noyollo. Yeehuaya! Maca oc tle xic yococa. Yeehuaya! Ye nelli in ayaxcan nicnopiltihua in tlalticpac. Ye nelli cococ ye otimalihuico in motloc monahuac in ipal nemohua. Yyao yyahue ahuayye oo Huiya.

Zan niquintemohua—Aya!—niquilnamiqui in tocnihuan. Cuix oc ceppa huitze in cuix oc nemiquihui? Zan cen ti ya polihuia zan cen ye nican in tlalticpac. Maca cocoya inyollo itloc inahuac in ipal nemohua. Yyao yyahue ahuayye oo Huiya.

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Romances de los Señores #36 (21r-22v)

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TPB's notes: The selections from The Flower Songs of Hungry Coyote are part of ANCIENT AMERICAN POETS Inca, Maya & Aztec Poetry translations and biographies of the poets by John Curl published by Bilingual Press, Arizona State University. From the site: "Composed when he was fleeing the king of Azcapotzalco, either during his first flight in 1418, when he was 16, or during his second flight, around 1426, when he was 24. This is the earliest poem that we can date."

PACHACUTEC
from: Sacred Hymns Of Pachacutec

O Lord
fortunate, happy, victorious Wiracocha,
merciful and compassionate toward the people:

Before you stand your servants and the poor
to whom you have given life and put in their places:
Let them be happy and blessed
with their children and descendants;
let them not fall into veiled dangers
along the lonely road;
let them live many years
without weakening or loss,
let them eat, let them drink.

IN THE ORIGINAL ANCIENT INCA: 

O Wiraqochan
kusi usapuq hayllipu
Wiraqochaya
runa khuya maywa
kaymi runa yana waqchiyki
runayki kamasqayki,
churasqayki
qasi qespilla kakuchun
warmaywan churinwan
ch'in nanta
ama watequintawan
yuyachunchu
unay wata kawsachun
mana allqaspa,
manana p'itispa
mikhukuchun, uqyakuchun

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TPB's notes: The hymns of Pachacutec Inca Yupanqui were composed for the Situa ceremony around 1440-1450.

from translator John Curl:

The eleven hymns, or jaillis, in Quechua verse, were sung to the accompaniment of instruments during the annual Inca ceremony of the Situa Raymi, held at the first new moon after the Spring equinox.

Pachacutec, considered by many to be the greatest Inca emperor, transformed Manco Capac's vision into Tawantinsuyu, Land of the Four Directions, the Inca empire. One can compare Manco Capac - legendary Inca demiurge, mythical founder and bringer of civilization - with King Arthur, Prometheus or Quetzalcóatl; one can compare Pachacutec - historical leader of an expanding new socio-political world order, a new Weltanschauung - with Charlemagne, Alexander the Great, Napoleon or Mao Tse Tung (another extraordinary poet).

In appreciation of the sacred Inca hymns, the great Quechua scholar Jesus Lara writes,

"Among the hymns... there are fragments of profound beauty, interpreters of a high level of spirituality reached by the Inca people. Many of them seduce by their transparent simplicity, for the elemental gratitude in them for the deity who creates and governs, who grants sustenance, peace and happiness. Many captivate by their elevation contiguous with metaphysic. All by the emotional force that palpitates in them."

http://red-coral.net/Pach.html