Caetano da Costa Alegre

• Name — Caetano da Costa Alegre • Born — 26 April 1864 • Birthplace — São Tomé Island • Died — 18 April 1890 • Place of death — Alcobaça, Portugal • Occupation — poet

Born to a Cape Verdean crioulo family in the colony of São Tomé in Portuguese São Tomé and Príncipe, off the coast of Africa, he settled in Portugal in 1882 and attended medical school in Lisbon, hoping to become a naval doctor, but died of tuberculosis in Alcobaça before he could fulfill his dream. He wrote several reviews under his name including A Imprensa (1885-1891) and A Leitura (1894–96), the last one was posthumously published.

Though distinctly European in style, the themes of Costa Alegre's work make him a precursor to later African authors and poets, who dealt with issues of race, alienation, and nostalgic reveries for the past (in his case, his reminiscences about São Tomé).

One of the poems he wrote was Visão meaning vision. • Vi-te passar, longe de mim, distante, • Como uma estátua de ébano ambulante; • Ias de luto, doce, tutinegra, • E o teu aspecto pesaroso e triste • Prendeu minha alma, sedutora negra; • Depois, cativa de invisível laço, • (o teu encanto, a que ninguém resiste) • Foi-te seguindo o pequenino passo • Até que o vulto gracioso e lindo • Desapareceu, longe de mim, distante, • Como uma estátua de ébano ambulante.