Tenochtitlan

A sonnet.

Diego Rivera Mural of Mexican History: Ceremonial Center at Tenochtitlan. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Tenochtitlan

It seemed to them a vision from a dream —
     Green shores, blue waters, and upon the lake
     A city stood. There could be no mistake —
The morning sunlight turns the mists to steam
And, round the island, countless people stream
     On causeways, and in little boats which make
     Their way towards the city. In their wake
Round ripples form, and in the sunlight gleam.

The garden-girdled city glimmered white
With towers and temples burnished by the light
     And Lake Texcoco shimmering around —    
     Yet at that very instant could be found,
Within its temples, chambers black with gore
With human offal strewn upon the floor.
 
*

Inspired by the famous passage in the True History of the Events of the Conquest of New Spain (completed in 1568, first published in 1638) by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, a soldier who had accompanied Hernán Cortés in the conquest of Mexico.

Next morning, we came to a broad causeway and continued our march towards Iztapalapa. And when we saw all those cities and villages built in the water, and other great towns on dry land, and that straight and level causeway leading to Mexico [i.e., the city of Tenochtitlan], we were astounded. These great towns and cues and buildings rising from the water, all made of stone, seemed like an enchanted vision from the tale of Amadis. Indeed, some of our soldiers asked whether it was not all a dream. It was all so wonderful that I do not know how to describe this first glimpse of things never heard of, seen or dreamed of before.

-Bernal Díaz, The Conquest of New Spain, translated by J.M. Cohen (Penguin Classics Series, 1963), page 214. See Chapter 88 of the Spanish text.

Map of Tenochtitlan and the Gulf of Mexico, 1524. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Further sources of inspiration: Hans Castorp’s dream in the snow in The Magic Mountain; the horrible parable of Omelas by Ursula LeGuin (Those Who Walk Away From Omelas); and, perhaps, that saying of Jesus from The Gospel of Matthew: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27, RSV translation).

© Metrical Poet 2026