>> Moctezuma y los tamemes.
The tamemes were like servicemen of Moctezuma, like almost --
Almost in the condition of animals, like cargo animals in the old Mexico.
Los pies de Moctezuma no tocaban el suelo y su camino no tenía puertas;
los tamemes pisaban todos los lodos y su camino estaba lleno de cargas.
Los oídos de Moctezuma escuchaban los cantos y su lengua profería las palabras de mando;
los tamemes recogían los insultos y su voz era la de los cenzontles en los montes.
Para tener a sus esposas y concubinas, Moctezuma sólo se volteaba a su derecha o a su izquierda,
y su progenie sagrada se propagaba luego por los cuatro rumbos del Imperio y de la muerte.
Las mujeres de los tamemes acogían a los caciques y a los señores de la tierra,
y sus hijos naturales atravesaban leguas portando con pies flacos la riqueza ajena.
Sirvientes con bezotes de cristal, servían a Moctezuma perros, pescados y patos;
los tamemes cargaban cacao y maíz, con su comida para el camino encima de la carga.
Para conocer el pasado y el futuro, Moctezuma poseía adivinos y hechiceros,
espejos de obsidiana, animales y aves, y cautivos que sacrificaba a los dioses.
Para saber su suerte, los tamemes miraban su condición presente,
y consultaban la desnudez y el hambre en su propio cuerpo.
El día en que Moctezuma supo en la Casa de lo Negro que su ruina venía a caballo con los
atavíos de un dios, que se había perdido en el Poniente;
los tamemes no vieron nada en su día negro,
sólo cambiaron de dueño en la historia de México.
>> Moctezuma and his bearers.
No door stood in his path, the feet of Moctezuma never touched ground.
His bearers waited through all the mud and their path was full of burdens.
Moctezuma's ears heard songs and words of command rolled off his tongue.
His bearers picked up his insults and their voice was as the mockingbirds on the hill.
To possess his wives and concubines, Moctezuma only needed to go left or right,
and then and there his sacred offspring were fathered
out to the four corners of death and the empire.
The chieftains and lords of the land were entertained by his bearers' women
and their bastards strutted leagues on their skinny feet, bearing the bounty of others.
Servants with lip plugs of crystal plied Moctezuma with fish and duck
and dog on top of a load of cocoa and corn.
The bearers bore their own food for the road.
To see into the past and future, Moctezuma had soothsayers and wizards, mirrors of obsidian.
For sacrifice to the gods, animals and captives and birds.
To tell their fate, the bearers looked at their present state and consulted the hunger
and nakedness of their own bodies.
That day, in the house of darkness on which Moctezuma knew his doom approached on horseback,
guard like that God who had vanished into the sunset,
in their dark day, the bearers saw nothing.
They were merely exchanging masters in the History of Mexico.