COATLICUE

Seething in serpent’s skirt and necklace of hearts
She walks unseen in the shadow of Tenochtitlan;
Queen of the red earth, her presence is everywhere.
She stands watch over the horde of humans
Ascending the temple born to feed her hunger,
Born out of trembling arms and steady mouths.
“Oh Divine Goddess of Birth and Death,
We unleash the blood from our tongues
For you have let your own blood run
Till your body ran dry and you were reborn.”
“We offer you a kin of flesh and blood,
Tear her with your claws and be contented.
Our farmer hands have threshed the corn;
Day and night we have worked to eat
But only you can hold the blow of disaster.”
“We are the servants of you the Gods,
Bowing to the children of Ometecuhtli,
For you are the predeterminers of Destiny.”
She watches silently their gloried ritual,
She toasts to her fellows from the Pantheon.
These that clung to her heavy breasts at first,
Nourished and replenished by her flowing milk,
Now kneel in deference to her duality,
Now prostrate in full surrender to the deity
Who consumes their bodies and wears their skin.