Netzahualcoyotl

I Erect My Drum - Flowers of the Hungry Coyote

Tim Hazell

"With variegated flowers adorned Your drum is erected, Oh, You By Whom All Live. With flowers, with freshness — Ayahue!"

The great city of Tetzcoco represented the center of artistic and intellectual life of the Mexican plateau. Its role followed the development of a military aristocracy, the increase of its power, and liberation from the daily routine of food production. Aztec domination in the Mexican highlands exploded after the overthrow of Atzcapotzalco and the formation of the Triple Alliance between Tetzcoco, Tlacopan and Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital in 1428. The alliance and subsequent conquests resulted in an empire embracing the majority of the population of Meso-America at the end of the fifteenth century.

Intellectuals in New World civilizations usually rose from the priestly class, but Tetzcoco’s philosopher-king, Netzahualcoyotl “Hungry Coyote” (1403 - 1473), became, as his later European counterpart, Frederic the Great, a warrior, philosopher, ruler and statesman who had a passion for the arts. After years of intrigue, beginning with the slaughter of his father by Tepaneco soldiers in 1418, and time spent in a dungeon, the Hungry Coyote finally ascended to the throne which was his birthright and quickly began to display remarkable abilities, a true renaissance man of his time. His code of laws and the social reforms he devised, along with his great engineering works, were considered so exemplary that he was sought after and emulated by his main allies, the Aztecs.

He formed "The Council of Music," a body devoted to science , art, history, literature and poetry. This revolutionary board evaluated the academic qualifications of professors, verified the accuracy of published works, and judged compositions according to their literary merits. His city, Tetzcoco became known as “The Athens of the Western World,” and was a magnet for intellectuals, artists, sculptors, gold and silversmiths and many other craftsmen who flocked to the cities of the Triple Alliance after the empire’s rapid expansion.

The inhabitants of the capital city, Tenochtitlan, evoked Netzahualcoyotl’s aid as architect and engineer to design the great dykes, aqueducts and causeways connecting the city to the mainland, turning Tenochtitlan into an almost impregnable city in time of war or siege.

Netzahualcoyotl died at age 70, survived by wives, concubines and 110 children. His legitimate son, Nezahualpilli succeeded to the throne. The glittering empire of which he was such a brilliant symbol was reduced to rubble, its people decimated by the Spaniards just 47 years later.

The Hungry Coyote is considered one of the greatest poets America has ever produced. His poems come from two major collections, "Romances de los Señores de la Nueva España," and "Cantares Mexicanos," both compiled between 1560 and 1582. The Romances containing 10 of his flower songs were collected by his great grandson, Juan Bautista Poman, who wrote them down in Nahuatl for his own people to preserve their original nuances and textures and to conserve his traditions and culture.

I ERECT MY DRUM
I erect my drum, I assemble my friends. Aya! Here they find recreation, I make them sing. Aya! Perhaps there is also calm There in the Bodyless Place? Aye! Let us go. But here the law of the flowers governs, here the law of the song governs, here on earth. Ehuaya! Be happy, dress in finery, oh friends. Ohuaya ohuaya.

TI XIUHTOTOTL (YOU, AZURE BIRD)
Ti xiuhtototl ti tlauhquechol ti ya patlantinemi. Moyocoya ipal nemohuani: ti mohuihuixohua ya timotzetzelohua nican moqui nochan moqui nocalla imancan. Ohuaya Ohuaya! Monecuiltonol moteicnelil huel ic nemohua in ipal nemohua in tlalticpac: ti mohuihuixohua ya timotzetzelohua nican moqui nochan moqui nocalla imancan. Ohuaya Ohuaya!

YOU, AZURE BIRD You, azure bird, shining parrot, you walk flying. Oh Highest Arbiter, Life Giver: trembling, You extend Yourself here, filling my house, filling my dwelling, here. Ohuaya Ohuaya! With Your piety and grace one can live, oh Author of Life, on earth: trembling, You extend Yourself here, filling my house, filling my dwelling, here. Ohuaya Ohuaya!

A ZAN CHALCHIHUITLI (IT IS PURE JADE)
It is pure jade, a wide plumage, your heart, your word, Oh Father! Ehuaya. You pity man, you watch him with mercy! Only for the most brief moment is he next to you, at your side! Ohuaya ohuyaya. Precious as jade your flowers burst forth, Oh Life Giver. As fragrant flowers they are perfected, as blue parrots they open their corollas. Only for the most brief moment next to you, at your side! Ohuaya ohuyaya.