Quetzalcoatl Poetry
Yucatan Mayan Prophecy
Eat, eat while there is bread,
...from the Books of Chilam Balam (sacred book of the Yucatan Maya).
Drink, drink, while there is water;
A day comes when dust shall darken the air,
When a blight shall wither the land,
When a cloud shall arise,
When a mountain shall be lifted up,
When a strong man shall seize the city,
When ruin shall fall upon all things,
When the tender leaf shall be destroyed,
When eyes shall be closed in death;
When there shall be three signs on a tree,
Father, son, and grandson hanging dead on the same tree;
When the battle flag shall be raised,
And the people scattered abroad in the forests.
In 1503 Montezuma II came to the throne as Emperor of Mexico. In 1509, his sister, Princess Papantzin, had a dream about ships with black crosses on their sails. In her dream, these ships came from the sea to conquer their people. In 1519, just ten years later, Hernando Cortes arrives in Mexico. At this time Tenochtitlan had 300,000 inhabitants.
Anyone who saw Mel Gibson's movie Apocalypto would remember the scenes showing the Mayan city with its various classes. The Aztecs were considered more cruel than the Maya.
Thousand of slaves, and prisoners of war, were killed by the Aztec each year. Their hearts were torn out, they were flayed alive, and then their hearts were eaten. Most of these sacrifices were made to Quetzalcoatl, their mightest god. He took two forms as the feathered or stone serpent.
What is interesting is that Montezuma's sister Papantzin was baptized into Christianity in 1525. Many think the people were tired of all the ritualist sacrifices, and many tribes were treated badly by the Aztecs. In a small peasant village a man baptized as Juan Diego was later the man who saw and spoke to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Our Lady of Guadalupe was made National Patroness of Mexico, on May 26, 1737.
The sweet-voiced quetzal there, ruling the earth has intoxicated by soul.
2.
I am like the quetzal bird, I am created in the one and only God; I sing sweet songs among the flowers; I chant songs and rejoice in my heart.
3.
The fuming dew drops from the flowers in the field intoxicate my soul.
4.
I grieve to myself that ever this dwelling on earth should end.
5.
I foresaw, being a Mexican, that our rule began to be destroyed, I went forth weeping that it was to bow down and to be destroyed.
6.
Let me not be angry that the granduer of Mexico is to be destroyed.
7.
The smoking stars gather against it; the one who cares for flowers is about to be destroyed.
8.
He who cared for books wept, he wept for the beginning of the destruction.
...from Daniel G. Brinton's Ancient Nahuatl Poetry, 123.
Quetzalcoatl
by Juan Felipe Herrera (oringinally written in Spanish, English, and Nahuatl)
quetzalcoatl
no sorrow
shining
quetzalcoatl
plumed heart
of struggle
happy
working
transforming
dying constellations...
conscious heart
suffering
rejoicing
in the work
in the plumed heart struggle
turn earth over
milpa of la raza
la raza - milpa
glowing heart fifth sun ...
a new cycle ...
plumed heart struggle
deserving
lord-ladt
life giver
ever present ever near
La Raza = "the race"
This page was last updated on March 14, 2015
