Afro Argentine - Poems By Afro-Argentinians

Poems By Afro-Argentinians

In the midst of my people I am isolated,

because where my cradle was rocked

roughly over on its side,

a breed of outcasts has remained

and it is to that race which I belong.

And we have no homeland, if it exists,

It knew how to draft us from its breast;

the charges that serve for a saddened man.

And if we have but one right granted,

It is surely the right to die.

(1869) Horacio Mendizabal.

Oh damned, damned, a thousand times

you faithless white, your cruel remembrance

is eternal hurt from your history

(1878) Casilda Thompson.

There are no more Negro bottlemen,

nor porters

or fruit-selling blacks,

much less a fisherman;

because those Neapolitans

have even become pastry chefs

and now want to rob us of

the laundryman's trade.

There are no more servants of my colour

Because every one of them is a wop;

Before long, by Jesus Christ!

They'll be dancing the Zemba with a drum.

Anonymous poet, probably from the late 19th century.