Translating Luiz Gama: ‘No álbum do meu Amigo J.A. da Silva’ (In my friend’s album)

Luiz Gama’s poem ‘No Álbum do meu Amigo J.A. da Silva’ from the collection Primeiras Trovas Burlescas de Getulino (1859, 1861) is formulated as an extended recusatio in response to a friend’s request for a song. In this way, Gama apologizes for his inability to compose refined poems given his circumstances (he is poor and he is black). In this non-literal translation I have followed the rhyming scheme in the original Portuguese for each stanza (abcb) and have tried as much as possible to maintain the lively rhythm of the original.