The
Songs of Dzitbalché
Ancient Mayan Poetry
by Ah Bam
Translated by John Curl
In this collection, known as Songs of Dzitbalché,
the only known ancient Maya lyric poetry, the poet speaks of
personal feelings and ideas, of love, philosophy, ancient rituals and
spiritual values.
These selections of
The Songs of Dzitbalché
offer a glimpse into
ANCIENT AMERICAN
POETS
Inca, Maya & Aztec
Poetry
translations and biographies of
the poets
by John Curl
published by
Bilingual Press (Arizona State
University)
Buy
this book
CONTENTS
I Will Kiss Your Mouth
To Kiss Your Lips Beside
The Fence Rails
Let Us Go To The Receiving Of The
Flower
Flower Song
The Mourning Song Of The
Poor Motherless Orphan
The Song Of The
Minstrel
INTRODUCTION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I WILL KISS YOUR
MOUTH
I will kiss your mouth
between the plants of the
milpa.
Shimmering beauty,
you have to hurry.
BIN IN TZ'UUTZ' A
CHI
Bin in tz'uutz' a chi
Tut yam x cohl
X ciichpam zac
Y an y an a u ahal
TO KISS YOUR
LIPS
BESIDE THE FENCE
RAILS
Put on your beautiful
clothes;
the day of happiness has
arrived;
comb the tangles from your
hair;
put on your most attractive
clothes
and your splendid
leather;
hang great pendants in the lobes
of
your ears; put on
a good belt; string
garlands
around your shapely
throat;
put shining coils
on your plump upper
arms.
Glorious you will be
seen,
for none is more beautiful
here
in this town, the seat of
Dzitbalché.
I love you, Beautiful
Lady.
I want you to be seen;
in
truth you are very
alluring,
I compare you to the smoking
star
because they desire you up to the
moon
and in the flowers of the
fields.
Pure and white are your clothes,
maiden.
Go give happiness with your
laugh,
put goodness in your heart,
because today
is the moment of happiness; all
people
put their goodness in
you.
LET US GO
TO THE RECEIVING OF THE
FLOWER
Let us sing
flowing with joy
because we are going
to
the Receiving of the
Flower.
All the maidens
wear a smile on their pure
faces;
their hearts
jump in their breasts.
What is the cause?
Because they know
that they will give
their virginity to those they
love.
Let the Flower sing!
Accompanying you will be the
Nacom
and the Great Lord Ah
Kulel
present on the
platform.
Ah Kulel sings:
"Let us go, let us go
lay down our wills before the
Virgin
the Beautiful Virgin and
Lady
the Flower of the
Maidens
on the high platform,
the Lady Suhay Kaak,
the Pretty X Kanleox,
the Lovely X Zoot
and the Beautiful Lady Virgin X
Tootmuch.
They are those who give
goodness
to life here in this
Region,
on the Plains and in the
district
here in the
Mountains."
Let us go, let us go,
let us go, youths;
we will give perfect
rejoicing
here in Dzitill Piich,
Dzitbalché.
FLOWER SONG
The most alluring moon
has risen over the
forest;
it is going to burn
suspended in the
center
of the sky to lighten
all the earth, all the
woods,
shining its light on
all.
Sweetly comes the air and the
perfume.
Happiness permeates all good
men.
We have arrived inside the
woods
where no one will see what we
have
come here to do.
We have brought plumeria
flowers,
chucum blossoms, dog
jasmines;
we have the copal,
the low cane vine,
the land tortoise
shell,
new quartz, chalk and cotton
thread;
the new chocolate cup,
the large fine flint,
the new weight,
the new needle work,
gifts of turkeys, new leather,
all new, even our hair
bands,
they touch us with
nectar
of the roaring conch
shell
of the ancients.
Already, already
we are in the heart of the
woods,
at the edge of the pool in the
stone
to await the rising
of the lovely smoking
star
over the forest.
Take off your clothes,
let down your hair,
become as you were
when you arrived here on
earth,
virgins, maidens.
THE MOURNING
SONG
OF THE POOR MOTHERLESS
ORPHAN
DANCE TO
DRUMBEATS
I was very small when my mother
died,
when my father died.
Ay ay, my Lord!
Raised by the hands of
friends,
I have no family here on
earth.
Ay ay, my Lord!
Two days ago my friends
died,
and left me insecure
vulnerable, alone. Ay
ay!
That day I was alone
and put myself
in a stranger's hand.
Ay ay, my lord!
Evil, much evil passes
here
on earth. Perhaps
I will never stop
crying.
Without family,
alone, very lonely I
walk,
crying day and night
only cries consume my eyes and
soul.
Under evil so hard.
Ay ay, my Lord!
Take pity on me, put an
end
to this suffering.
Give me death , my Beautiful
Lord,
or give my soul
transcendence!
Poor, poor
alone on earth
pleading insecure
lonely
imploring door to door
asking every person I see to give
me love.
I who have no home, no
clothes,
no fire.
Ay my lord! Have pity on
my!
Give my soul
transcendence
to endure.
THE SONG OF THE
MINSTREL
This day there is a feast in the
villages.
Dawn streams over the
horizon,
south north east west,
light comes to the earth,
darkness is gone.
Roaches, crickets, fleas and
moths
hurry home.
Magpies, white doves, swallows,
partridges, mockingbirds,
thrushes, quail,
red and white birds rush
about,
all the forest birds begin their
song because
morning dew brings
happiness.
The Beautiful Star
shines over the woods,
smoking as it sinks and
vanishes;
the moon too dies
over the forest green.
Happiness of fiesta day has
arrived
in the villages;
a new sun brings light
to all who live together
here.
INTRODUCTION
The Songs of Dzitblaché include most of the ancient Maya
lyric poetry that has survived. In these songs, the poet speaks of
personal feelings and ideas, of love, philosophy, ancient rituals and
spiritual values.
The original title page reads, "The Book of the Dances of the
Ancients that it was the custom to perform here in the towns when the
whites had not yet arrived. This book was made by the honorable Mr.
Bam, great-grandson of the great Ah Kulel of the town of
Dzitbalché in the year 1440." The title, "Songs of
Dzitbalché," was given to the collection by the first
translator into Spanish, Alfredo Barrera Vásquez, and it is by
this name that it is generally known. Written above the title is the
word kolomché - a ceremonial dance - and below it is the first
poem, "I Will Kiss Your Lips."
The manuscript itself was probably written in the 1700s, though it
could be a copy of an earlier manuscript. Some of the material it
contains is clearly much older, probably from the 1400s. A number of
the poems incorporate fragments of ancient ceremonies; others are
descriptions of those ceremonies. It is not always possible to
distinguish between the two. The poems about the ceremonies were
written by Ah Bam during the colonial period, while the cermonies
described are clearly ancient.
The Yucatec Maya Language
The Mayence language family diverged from a common stock over the
centuries into the large variety of related languages found
throughout the Maya region today, much as the Romance languages
diverged from Latin. There are 28 Mayance languages with numerous
dialects. Yucatecan Maya however, forms one of the three major
subgroupings, the others being Huastecan and Southern Mayan. All the
Mayance language speakers together total about 4 million people.
Yucatec Maya remains understandable throughout the Yucatán
peninsula, despite minor local differences. Over 450,000 people speak
Maya in Yucatán today.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sources and Translations
In translating these texts I primarily refered to Barrera
Vásquez's pioneering translation into Spanish (Mérida,
1965). I also referred to Munro S. Edmonson's English translation
(Mexico, 1982), which is loosely based on Barrera Vásquez, but
less literal.
Useful in understanding these texts is an acquaintence with the
various Books of Chilam Balam (Barrera Vásquez, 1948,
and many other translations), the Ritual of the Bacabs (Roys,
Norman, 1965), the Title of Calkiní (Barrera
Vásquez, Campeche, 1957) and Fray Diego de Landa's
Relación de las cosas de Yucatán (Gates, New
York, 1978).
Other important Maya texts from Yucatán and Guatemala
include the Xiu Chronicle, the Chronicle of Chicxulub
and the Title of Yaxkukul (Restall, Boston, 1998), the
Popol Vuh (Pop Wuj) (Chavez, Mexico, 1979; Tedlock, New York,
1985, and many other translations), the Annals of the
Cakchiquels and the Title of the Lords of
Totonicapán (Recinos and Goetz, Mexico, 1950, Norman,
1953), and the Rabinal Achí (Monterde, Mexico, 1979).
A good brief anthology of Mayan literature is La literatura de
los Mayas (Sodi, México, 1964).
Standard dictionaries and grammars include Diccionario de Motul
Maya-Español (Ciudad Real, Mérida, 1929),
Diccionario de elementos del Maya Yucateco Colonial (Swadesh,
Mexico, 1991), and A Maya Grammar (Tozzer, Cambridge, 1921,
New York, 1997)
Barrera Vásquez, Alfredo, El
Libro de los Libros de Chilam
Balam (con Silvia Rendón), México, 1948;
Códice de Calkiní, Campeche, 1957; El libro
de los cantares de Dzitbalché, Mérida, 1965.
Chávez, Adrian I., Pop Wuj, Mexico, 1979.
Ciudad Real, A. de, Diccionario de Motul
Maya-Español, Mérida, 1929.
Craine, Eugene R. and Reindorp, Reginald C., The Codex
Pérez and the Book of Chilam Balam of Maní, Norman,
1979.
Edmonson, M. S., "The Songs of Dzitbalché: A Literary
Commentary," Tlalocan, México, 1982, The Ancient Future of
the Itzás (The Book of Chilam Balam of Tizimin), Austin,
1982.
Landa, Fray Diego de, Relación de las cosas de
Yucatán (1566), Mérida 1938; translation by Wm.
Gates, Yucatán Before and After the Conquest, Baltimore
1937, New York, 1978.
Monterde, Francisco, Teatro Indígena Prehispánico
(Rabinal Achí), México, 1979.
Recinos, Adrián, Popol Vuh, Mexico 1947, Norman,
1950; Memorial de Sololá, Anales de los Cakchiqueles,
Mexico, 1950, Norman 1953; Crónicas Indígenas de
Guatemala, Guatemala, 1957.
Roys, Ralph L., Ritual of the Bacabs, Norman,1965, The
Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel, Norman, 1967.
Sánchez de Aguilar, Fray Pedro, Informe contra idolorum
cultores del Obispo de Yucatán (1639), Mérida,
1937, México, 1953.
Sodi M., Demetrio, La literatura de los Mayas,
México, 1964.
Swadesh, M., Cristina Alverez, M. and Bastarrachea, J. R.,
Diccionario de elementos del Maya Yucateco Colonial, Mexico,
1991.
Tedlock, Dennis, Popol Vuh, New York, 1985.
Tozzer, A. M., A Maya Grammar, Cambridge, 1921; New York
1977.
Copyright © 2003 by John Curl. All Rights
Reserved.