Flower Songs

1. The poems pack a lot of emotions and magnificence. Teponaztli Drum songs writes “I, a quetzal feather, a bird of the flowering water, I flow in celebration. I am a song. In the wide wall of the water, my heart walks on the lips of the men. I am beautifying my flowers; with them the princes become intoxicated. There is adornment” (Curl, p. 6). The poem speaks in the point of view of a quetzal feather, and how it simply walks on the lips of men and has power to beautify flowers. This reflects the details the author observes from their daily lives, and how such precise observation leads to a poem with great structure.
2. The poems shine a light to how the author views art and composition of literature. In “Only Flowers are Out Adornment”, the poem writes “only songs turn our suffering to delight on earth” (Curl, p. 4). At the same time, In poem “I begin to Sing”, the author writes “I begin to sing, I elevate to the heights the song for He By Whom All Live... The festive song has arrived: it comes to reach up to the Highest Arbiter” (Curl, p. 3). These description of songs and poems they compose proposes that arts, especially literature, are used to capture happiness, or being joy to the singer, the listener, and the composer. Since the poems never specified any special events, these poems could be sung at any time and anywhere, which I find quite interesting.

1. The poems mention several different characters, but they fail to describe who they are. The first poem introduces God: “I am at your side, God. Do you plan my death?” (Curl, p. 1). Then, the poem presents a Life Giver: “you were hardly my friend here on earth, Life Giver” (Curl, p. 1). It is not clear whether God and Life Giver was the same person. In modern interpretation, God would be the same as a Life Giver, but the poem separates them by assigning them two different names. Meanwhile, “Do I have to live among the people? What then? Princes, tell me!” (Curl, p. 1). There is more confusion to who “the people” and “Princes” are. There is no context in the poems, their identities are not transparent.
2. In the beginning of the poem, the text writes “In vain I left the house of god and came to earth. I am so wretched” (Curl, p. 1); then it says “My heart suffers. I am unfortunate” (Curl, p. 1). These messages foreshadow the sadness that the entity undergoes when they were sent to earth. The words highlighted how much pain and suffering is connected to being on earth. However, in future poem, “The Flower Tree” writes, “Ah, yes: I am happy” (Curl, p. 2) and “Not forever on earth, only a brief time here” (Curl, p. 2). The later texts highlighted the joy of being on earth, especially because their stay is short, so they should enjoy their time here. Why were there sudden emotional changes in the texts that describe one emotion then the opposite emotion in the following poem?

1. Who is God, Life Giver, Prince, lords, and friends in the poems?
2. Is the author afraid of death, or he simply griefs for those who went away?