Mictlan, the land of the dead
In Nahua belief, “the place of the dead”, below the earth, where most of the dead went. The songs also call it Quenonamican, “the place where somehow one lives”.
Songs of Flowers and Parting
Nahua singers, three songs from the Cantares mexicanos manuscript, as printed by Daniel G. Brinton, Ancient Nahuatl Poetry (Philadelphia, 1887), songs XXII–XXIV · sung before and after the Spanish conquest; written down in the sixteenth century; printed 1887
Mach nohuan tonyaz quennonamica o ah nicitquiz xochitl zan nicuicanitl huiya ma yo a xonahuiyacan to ya nemia ticaqui ye nocuic ahuaya.
Will you really go with me to the place where somehow we live on? I will not take the flowers there; I am only a singer. Be glad while we are alive, and listen to my song.
Ay ca nichocaya nicuicanitl ya icha ahuicaloyan cuicatl ha Mictlan temohuiloya yectliya xochitl onca ya oncaa y yao ohuayan ca ya ilaca tziuhan ca na y yo.
Ah, I wept, I the singer. The song of the place of delight went down to Mictlan. Fine flowers are there, twisting and turning.
Ti Nopiltzi o ti Nezahualcoyotl o tiya Mictl a quenonamica y yece miyoncan ay yo.
You, my prince, you, Nezahualcoyotl, you have gone to Mictlan, to the place where somehow we live on.