In this long fragment--the closing strophes are missing in my
MS.--the bard represents himself as a stranger appearing before the
nobles of Huexotzinco at some festival. The first two verses appear
to be addressed to him by the nobles. They ask him to bring forth his
drum and sing. He begins with a laudation of the power of music,
proceeds to praise the noble company present, and touches those
regretful chords, so common in the Nahuatl poetry, which hint at the
ephemeral nature of all joy and the certainty of death and oblivion.
An appeal is made to the Master of Life who inspires the soul of the
poet, and whose praises should be ever in mind.
The words _Dios_ and _angelotin_, in verse 26th, indicate that the
poem has received some "recension" by the Spanish copyist; but the
general tone impresses me as quite aboriginal in character.