Manco Inca Yupanqui
by Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala, circa 1615
from “El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno”
A fealty to the Crown of Spain
In exchange for an honored name
A tender agreement regretted
From a sphere of escape
To a siezing causatum
Lo, the Inca weeps
For he treated as brothers
Those who rushed the dagger
Rejoicing the absence of Fear
Though Fear loomed quickly
To an abrupt end of games
And all fell upon the earth
Hence we speak of three days
The record of a favored son
Yearning the bittersweet drops
And this persistent memory
Carried upon your feet
To tread over yon threshold
In the silence of dreaming vision
The retelling of a relic emblem
You have etched across my breast
Above the canopied incline
The ancient stone preserves
The last utterance of life
The mourning words assemble
To emblaze upon the mineral
Such is the allegory of an image
LiNdA
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