Raisers of ridgepoles and mounds (Songs of Dzitbalché) - Anonymous

Raisers of ridgepoles
And mounds.

It is urgently
Necessary
To measure
The count,
Either of how many years
Or katun days have passed
Since that time
Of the settlement there
Of the great
And powerful men,
Those who raised the walls
Of the ancient cities
That we see here and there
Here
In the forest
Of the plainsmen.
All of them
Are cities
Scattered over the land 
Here,
Here and there,
As we have seen,
And made to squat,
Squatting
On the heights
Of the mountains.

This is the assemblage
Into the cities.
Let us give
The explanation of it,
Of what we see here and there,
What we know.
For day by day
We just see
When we have halved the sky,
The manifestation
Of what was handed down to us
By the ancient people
Here in these villages,
Here in this land,
Which we shall give
As the truth of our hearts,
So that it may be possible
To read
What is on its face
There in heaven.
At nightfall we shall thus divide it
In the middle,
And perhaps thus the total
Will instruct (us).

---

Anonymous (18th century) Mexico

Translated by Munro S. Edmonson

Source: The Songs of Dzitbalché A Literary Commetary