Fair Mexico, that, trembling in her chains,
Saw ruthless strangers waste her peaceful plains,
Where are the stately domes she reared of old,
Her terraced shrines that blazed with gems and gold?
Where her whits-feathered chiefs that lined each steep,
Like foamy waves which crest the breezy deep?
Alas! her tale is traced in tears and flame;
Let History blush to write a Cortes' name;
Lo! where the fires ascend from yonder vale!
Ye hear the stake-bound victims' dying wail.
Doth not a groan each turf-clad barrow yield,
From those who fell on red Otumba's field?
While on each murmuring wind that wanders by
Floats royal Montezuma's fruitless sigh.
The battle of Otumba was fought on 7th July 1520. It was a victory for the Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes and his local allies against the forces of the Aztec Empire.
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Hernan Cortes Triumphant after his victory at Otumba