Songs of the Aztecs

Songs that Sing to Me
Songs of the Aztecs is the account of the European invasion that I found to be really the most enlightening. When you meet with friends or talk with associates how often do you speak of sorrow or defeat or loss? These are quiet moments we keep to ourselves, rarely sharing these truest and most honest of emotions. These poems do just that. They strip bare any covering of pride or shielded emotion. Reading them allows me to see just how desolate the nation has become,
“Nothing but flowers and songs of sorrow
Are left in Mexico and Tlatelolco,
where once we saw warriors and wise men.”
For a mighty nation to go from mighty warriors to flowers and respectively from wise men to songs of sorrow, one can only imagine their loss. Throughout the rest of the poem it describes how beauty and valor have now been turned into bloodshed and pain. Perhaps, misery loves company but, when I read this poem, and recognize the pain and suffering that was written it makes my life seem pretty comfortable and relaxed. I often discuss with my suburban friends the ideas of their suburbanitis, “I really am mad that I can’t find time to get to Lifetime this week. I just don’t feel good about myself if I don’t go. Well, maybe tomorrow.” By comparison it all just seems so inventive. Are you so bored with how mundane your life is that you need to create some false sense of drama?
Nothing hits me like a ton of bricks more than reading poetry like this. It is true and eloquent drama stripped of its dignity. Especially, if you take it in context of whom the Aztecs were. In our readings we know what a proud, brave and strong people they were. For them to get to the point of being able to write from the heart, Flowers and Songs of Sorrow speaks volumes. They have become a broken nation, and sadly, one that can never ever be repaired. It is for this that I like Songs of the Aztecs the most.