The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico

Following the fall of Tenochtitlan, Chapter 15 changes gears. It presents three “songs of sorrow,” elegiac poems written by Aztecs reflecting on the fall of their capital.

The first poem, “The Fall of Tenochtitlan,” is from the collection of Cantares Mexicanos and was probably composed in 1523. Its somber verse contrasts the rising cries of the Aztecs’ grief with the falling rain of their tears. It notes the Aztecs fleeing “like women” and asks, “How can we save our homes, my people?” There is no clear solution. The author finally orders the reader to weep, as “we have lost the Mexican nation” (146).

The second poem, “The Imprisonment of Cuauhtémoc,” is a dramatic excerpt from a series of poems recounting the Spanish conquest. It underlines the helpless feelings of the Aztecs and Tlatelolcas trapped in Tenochtitlan through incantatory repetition like “The Aztecs are besieged in the city; the Tlatelolcas are besieged in the city!” (148). It also emphasizes the sensory terror of the warfare inflicted by the Spanish: “The walls are black, / the air is black with smoke, / the guns flash in the darkness” (148-49) and describes the imprisonment of Aztec royalty, including even King Cuauhtémoc’s little niece, Dona Isabel.