Flowers and Songs of Sorrow

"Nothing but flowers and songs of sorrow

Are left in Mexico and Tlatelolco

Where once we saw warriors and wise men...

Have you grown weary of your servants?

Are you angry with your servants?

O Giver of Life?"

I have two things to talk about concerning this passage. The first is a question...why are there flowers in Mexico after the destruction of Tenochtitlan? I have a couple ideas. One idea is simply that graves are often marked and honored with flowers. Similar to the holiday Dia de los Muertos.
                                                    

This is an "ofrenda" or an altar used to celebrate and remember ancestors who have passed away. As you can see it is covered in flowers. I suppose that roots of the Mexican traditions of Dia de los Muertos have some connection to the feelings and thoughts expressed in the authors words above.

Another idea has an undertone of hope.

Life is a cycle, when things are built up they will at some point break down. Often this break down leads to sorrow and despair. But the hope is that flowers will grow out of the ashes. I guess my thought is that the author believes and hopes that flowers will grow out of the carnage and ashes of Tenochtitlan. I believe that today Latin America has become in many ways like a flower rising from the ashes. 

The following video is what comes to my mind when I think of this concept of rising from the ashes. It is from Disney's Fantasia.

I feel like the above account is very similar to Mormon's writings at the destruction of the Nephite people. They are both mourning after the damage is done. However, I find it very interesting how their mourning is different. In the above account there is a very solemn feeling of mourning, however the author is mourning because they feel the people have upset their God, which fault has led to their destruction. On the other hand, the scriptural passage below illustrates a different perspective on a similar situation. Mormon was a leader in his people's military during the destruction of his people. He is one of the sole survivors at the time he pens this passage. He is writing after he witnesses the utter destruction of his people. If you can imagine, extremely similar to the scene of Tenochtitlan, your own people on an enormous battlefield, no one is left standing as far as you can see. You are alone, you have seen your own people dig deeper and deeper into this hole of destruction.  Mormon pours out his soul concerning this:

 "17 O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you!

 18 Behold, if ye had not done this, ye would not have fallen. But behold, ye are fallen, and I mourn your loss.

 19 O ye fair sons and daughters, ye fathers and mothers, ye husbands and wives, ye fair ones, how is it that ye could have fallen!

 20 But behold, ye are gone, and my sorrows cannot bring your return."

(Mormon 6, Book of Mormon)

I find it interesting to compare the two passages of mourning in situations extremely similar. This second account shows us Mormon's view on destruction being due to the disintegration of morality among his people. I wonder how similar Aztecs and Nephites were before their destruction. I wonder if there were people like Mormon around Tenochtitlan, who felt the same way he did at the fall of Tenochtitlan.