Nezahualcoyotl

[Asencion Garcia]

--- "John F. Schwaller" <schwallr at selway.umt.edu>
wrote:
>
> >Date:         Fri, 7 Jul 2000 08:45:04 -0400
> >Reply-To: Johncarr439 at cs.com
> >Sender: Pre-Columbian History
> <AZTLAN at LISTSERV.LOUISVILLE.EDU>
> >From: John Carr <Johncarr439 at cs.com>
> >Subject:      ME: Nezahualcoyotl
> >To: AZTLAN at LISTSERV.LOUISVILLE.EDU
> >
> >
> >This Aztec poem is engraved in stone above a door
> in the courtyard
> >of the Museo Natl. de Antropologia in Mexico, DF
> and was the frontpiece
> >of Eric Wolf's _Sons of the Shaking Earth_
> >_________________________________________
> >
> >
> >   "All the earth is a grave and nothing escapes
> it;
> >        nothing is so perfect that it does not
> descend into
> >          its tomb.
> >   Rivers, rivulets, fountains and waters flow,
> >        but never return to their joyful
> beginnings;
> >   Anxiously they hasten on to the vast realms of
> the
> >        rain god.
> >  As they widen their banks, they also fashion
> >        the sad urn of their burial.
> >   Filled are the bowels of the earth with
> pestilential
> >         dust
> >   once flesh and bone, once animate bodies of men
> >         who sat upon thrones, decided cases,
> presided in
> >          council,
> >    commanded armies, conquered provinces,
> possessed
> >         treasure, destroyed temples,
> >    exulted in their pride, majesty, fortune,
> praise and
> >         power.
> >
> >   Vanished are these glories, just as the fearful
> smoke
> >         vanishes
> >   that belches forth from the infernal fires of
> >         Popocatepetl.
> >   Nothing recalls them but the written page."
> >
> >                              ~Nezahualcoyotl
> >                                    King of Texcoco
>
                                       1431-72


>


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