Zephaniah
Zephaniah
told them to take their Order of the British Empire
and shove it right where the monkey shoves his nuts;
to higher things than that he did aspire,
not for him, life as an elite sucker up;
a man of his word, he, for his entire life
fought against empire, racism and slavery,
against colonial imposition and strife;
he inspired others to personal bravery,
connection with people, the aim of Benjamin’s writing,
no honour for him, their empire attached to his name,
a poet of the people, with respect and love uniting,
his words and his colours nailed to the mast are his fame.
Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh
Sat 9th Dec 2023 20:12
Thanks all for your comments and likes.
Your wait is over MC: you’ve just read a poem from “…a British descendant of the viciously poor…”.
Mum frequently told me of the fear of the workhouse which was ingrained into her family memories. My forbears came to Britain to escape grinding poverty in Ireland, and mum’s warning “cleanliness is next to godliness” still rings in my ears-she was the youngest of eight- the child who should have grown up to be my uncle died at the age of six or seven from TB (tuberculosis) in what was probably among the last of Lancashire’s workhouses.