Calaveras: revelación de ultra tumba del espíritu de Francisco Villa (Skulls: Revelation from Beyond the Grave of the Spirit of Francisco Villa)

Text on the object

Original (Spanish) · read from the image, not independently checked

CALAVERAS
REVELACION DE ULTRA TUMBA DEL ESPIRITU DE
Francisco Villa

De espíritus inundado
El espacio ven algunos,
Y no faltan importunos
Que ya con Villa han hablado;
El infeliz se ha quejado
De lo que sufre hoy en día
Pues que se halla en compañía
De aquellos que asesinó,
Y eso lo comunicó
A un medium que conocía

No sé si será verdad
O me digan desaciertos,
Pero el que habla con los muertos
Me habló por casualidad
Y dijo: "En la eternidad
Villa hoy paga sus delitos,
Pues sus víctimas juntitos
Una paliza le han dado,
Y hoy se encuentra derrengado
Pidiendo perdón a gritos..

"Aquí bendicen a Salas
El que mató a Pancho Villa,
Pero aun para él hay cuchilla
Que le recorte sus balas...;
Aquí llega la de malas
Pues que de Dios la justicia
Jamás la envuelve malicia
Pues el que la hace la paga
Y todo aquel que mal haga
Su suerte será impropicia!

"Esos que buscan dinero
En la vida, tengan cuenta,
Que aquí no hay nada de venta
Y es todo imperecedero...
Que hasta el millonario artero
En la tierra deja el modo,
Y hasta el pedazo de lodo,
Con que el Creador lo formó,
Y su alma sola voló
Dejando en la tumba todo..."

"Todos demuestran encono
Contra Villa y sus secuaces,
Y lo maltratan tenaces
En su tortuoso abandono;
El nadie tiene en su abono,
Pues Salas B. lo mató
Porque su mano la armó
La Providencia en sus juicios,
Para castigar perjuicios
Que causó fuera de tono...

Lo persiguen alemanes,
Gringos, chinos mexicanos
Frailes, monjas, sacristanes;
Españoles y australianos..
Todos juzgan sus desmanes
Por el demonio inspirados;
Y a más de diez mil soldados
Que le sirvieron a Villa
Los persigue una pandilla
De espíritus indignados...

"Hay muchos que fueron ricos
Y los dejó en la desgracia,
Y otros que por democracia
Hizo su poder añicos;
Por todas partes a picos
Y picotones lo acozan...
Y por doquiera rebozan
Espíritus que con maña
Yracundos y con saña
A los villistas destrozan...

"Los acusan de ladrones,
Asesinos inhumanos;
De estupradores villanos,
Salteadores y bribones;
Aquí pierden los calzones
De que alardeaban en tierra,
Y ya les dan tanta guerra
A Pancho Villa y secuaces
Que lo que fueron de audaces
Aquí los pasma y aterra...

"No hay aquí perdón de Dios,
Pues el castigo es eterno
Y viven en duro infierno
Y en un sufrimiento atroz;
Y hay una potente voz
Que donde van los persigue
Y donde quiera los sigue
Sus maldades repitiendo;
Y otros los van maldiciendo
Sin que nadie los ostigue...

"Y como Villa y Carranza
A otros muchos redentores
Mil maldiciones mayores
Cada víctima les lanza...
Y aquí sí no hay esperanza
De dinero y de valer;
Aquí se acabó el poder
De reunir tontos en bola...
Aquí hay una sopa sola
Y la tienen que comer...

De Villa el alma contó
Al medium espiritista
Lo que aquí como copista
Estoy escribiendo yo...
Y dicen que suplicó
Perdón de los que dañara
Y que a su Dios se rogara
Que minorara su pena
Confiando en la gente buena
Que su maldad perdonara

Y yo a su ruego y encargo
El perdón pido para él
Que ha pasado el trance aquel
Que me dicen es amargo...
Dios lo juzgó sin embargo
Y su cuerpo se halla inerte,
Pues que después de la muerte
Ya terminó su misión...
Y buena o mala su acción
Que se conforme a su suerte.

5 cts. TIP. DE A. V. ARROYO-MEXICO CALLE DE STA. TERESA 40

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

SKULLS (CALAVERAS)
REVELATION FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE OF THE SPIRIT OF
Francisco Villa

With spirits flooded
Some see the space,
And there is no lack of pests
Who have already spoken with Villa;
The wretch has complained
Of what he suffers nowadays
For he finds himself in the company
Of those whom he murdered,
And he passed that on
To a medium whom [the writer] knew

I do not know if it will be true
Or whether they tell me nonsense,
But he who speaks with the dead
Spoke to me by chance
And said: "In eternity
Villa now pays for his crimes,
For his victims, all together,
Have given him a beating,
And today he is worn out
Begging forgiveness with shouts..

"Here they bless Salas
The man who killed Pancho Villa,
But even for him there is a blade
To trim his bullets...;
Here the bad times come
For God's justice
Is never wrapped in malice
For he who does it pays for it
And everyone who does wrong
His luck will be unfavourable!

"Those who seek money
In life, take note,
For here nothing is for sale
And everything is imperishable...
For even the crafty millionaire
Leaves the [trappings] on earth,
And even the lump of mud
With which the Creator formed him,
And his soul flew off alone
Leaving everything in the tomb..."

"All show resentment
Against Villa and his followers,
And they ill-treat him tenaciously
In his tortuous abandonment;
No one speaks in his favour,
For Salas B. killed him
Because his hand was armed
By Providence in its judgments,
To punish the harm
That he caused out of tune...

Germans pursue him,
Gringos, Chinese, Mexicans
Friars, nuns, sacristans;
Spaniards and Australians..
All judge his excesses
As inspired by the devil;
And more than ten thousand soldiers
Who served Villa
Are pursued by a gang
Of indignant spirits...

"There are many who were rich
And he left them in misfortune,
And others whose power
He smashed to bits for democracy;
On all sides with beaks
And pecks they harass him...
And everywhere there overflow
Spirits who cunningly
Wrathful and furious
Tear the Villistas apart...

"They accuse them of being thieves,
Inhuman murderers;
Of rapists, villains,
Highwaymen and rogues;
Here they lose the breeches
They boasted of on earth,
And they already give so much war
To Pancho Villa and his followers
That what they were of daring
Here astonishes and terrifies them..

"There is no pardon of God here,
For the punishment is eternal
And they live in a hard hell
And in atrocious suffering;
And there is a powerful voice
That pursues them wherever they go
And follows them wherever
Repeating their wickedness;
And others go cursing them
Without anyone urging them on...

"And like Villa and Carranza
Many other redeemers
A thousand greater curses
Each victim hurls at them...
And here there is no hope
Of money and of influence;
Here the power is over
To gather fools in a mob...
Here there is one plain soup
And they have to eat it...

Villa's soul told
The spiritist medium
What I am writing down here
As a copyist...
And they say he begged
Forgiveness of those he harmed
And that he prayed to his God
To lessen his punishment
Trusting in good people
To forgive his wickedness

And at his request and charge
I ask forgiveness for him
Since he has passed that ordeal
Which they tell me is bitter...
God judged him nonetheless
And his body lies lifeless,
For after death
His mission has ended...
And good or bad his action
Let him be content with his fate.

5 cents. PRINTED BY A. V. ARROYO, MEXICO, STA. TERESA STREET 40

Read from the full-resolution LOC master file. The blocks run in columns: two stanzas top left, two top right, then four columns of two stanzas each at the foot; they are transcribed here in that order. A few letters are worn or blotted; spelling and punctuation follow the print (for example 'estupradores'). Translation is literal and rough because several lines are colloquial or elliptical.