For the ancient Aztecs the highest form of sacred communication was poetry, what they
called xochicuicatl (“flower-song”). These were delicately beautiful hymns meant to be recited
orally, often to musical accompaniment. In paintings, Aztec poets are depicted with speech
scrolls issuing from their mouths. These scrolls are often colored a rich blue or green,
symbolic of the precious nature of the poets’ words as if they were composed of jade or
sacred quetzal feathers. Aztecs looked upon poetry as the actualization of a creative act
inspired by divinites who were called upon to be present at the performance. Thus the poet
Ayocuan Cuetzpaltzin of Tecamachalco believed that his songs came from heaven, but
lamented that his own words could not express them as they came undefiled from the gods:
From within the heavens they come,
The beautiful flowers, the beautiful songs.
Our longing spoils them,
Our inventiveness makes them lose their fragrance. (León-Portilla 1980, 257