My mate Benjamin is no more

By Ayo Akinfe

My mate Benjamin is no more

His passing is so very sore

What a great giant we have lost

Writers dread to value the cost

Writer and poet the man was

Zephaniah a man of words

He raised the literary stage

This Birmingham man was a sage

O how sorely we will miss you

All those who used to take a cue

From the young to the elderly

On streets and on the balcony

Rest in peace you wonderful one

It's hard to get that you are gone

You overcame all of those odds

Like one with the mark of the gods

On race you laid down the standards

Opposing all unjust hazards

You taught us how to be upright

Learn how to stand for what was right

Rest in peace our great Benjamin

Who taught racism was a sin

A man who broke down prison walls

With words that always filled the halls