Plegaria guadalupana [English translation]

Kneeling1 at your feet,

as did the indian Juan Diego,

we come today, holy virgin,

to raise our request before you.

We bring in our breasts

well-filled hearts

to give to you our thanks

in this humble song.

Our Lady of Guadalupe,

let me weep with emotion

for my mother is well

thanks to your blessing.

Mexican patroness,

today I bring another petition,

make my country safe

from malignant ambition.

We have come here on pilgrimage

from La Huasteca2,

our people have sins as well

and wish to implore your forgiveness.

Although our land is distant,

we are servants of your cult3,

and the bell which celebrates your crowning

called us even there.

Our Lady of Guadalupe,

let me weep with emotion

for my mother is well

thanks to your blessing.

Mexican patroness,

today I bring another petition,

make my country safe

from malignant ambition.

Our Lady of Guadalupe....

1. literally:"prostrate"2. "huasteco/a" usually refers to the Huastec people (or their language) but here it means the area that they inhabited during the late Mayan period (now occupied mostly by Nahuatl people, not by Mayan Huastecs) which is an area of about 12500 square miles along the Gulf coast from the Cazones river in the south to the Sierra de Tamaulipas in the north3. literally: "slaves of your devotion"