[net.philosophy] A sad Aztec poem

vax1:swifty (03/23/83)

Here is a song/poem that I found in E. Adamson Hoeble's
book "Anthropology: The Study of Man," fourth edition.


	Given over to sadness
	we remain here on earth.
	Where is the road
	that leads to the Region of the Dead,
	the place of our downfall,
	the country of the fleshless?

	Is it true that perhaps one lives
	there, where we all go?
	Does you heart believe this?
	He hides us
	in a chest, in a coffer,
	the Giver of Life,
	He who shrouds people in the grave.

	Will I be able to look upon,
	able to see perhaps, the face
	of my mother, of my father?
	Will they loan me
	a few songs, a few words?
	I will have to go down there:
	nothing do I expect.
	They leave us,
	given over to sadness.

	from Cantares Mexicanos


swifty