Poem to Ease Birth

Anonymous (from Nahuatl, Aztec)


In the house with the tortoise chair
  she will give birth to the pearl
                          to the beautiful feather

in the house of the goddess who sits on a tortoise
  she will give birth to the necklace of pearls
                          to the beautiful feathers we are

there she sits on the tortoise
  swelling to give us birth

on your way on your way
  child be on your way to me here
                          you whom I made new

come here child - come be pearl
                          be beautiful feather