Benjamin Zephaniah

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Benjamin Zephaniah

Praise the saviour

In Barbados, my grandfather, a twin

But his twin brother died at birth.

My father, he too was a twin

But his twin brother died at birth.

I am a twin,

A difficult twin.

And I almost died at birth.

I was an emergency.

Born in a corridor

Of the hospital that my mother worked in.

I never saw my father cry,

But I’m told that he cried when he saw me

Struggling to enter the world via Birmingham.

I’m told that he cried when he saw my mother

Struggling to give birth to this dub poet

The first of a set of twins,

Already growing dreadlocks.

But this was England, and

I made it.

Twelve I was when they found a lump in my breast.

‘But boys don’t get breast cancer.’ My father said to the doctor.

I thought I was going to die, but

I made it.

Fifteen I was when my lungs collapsed.

An athlete with no lungs won’t work,

And I thought I was going to die, but

I made it.

Twenty-five I was when my testicles blew up.

I told my girlfriend it was a football injury.

Told macho lies to the guys. But

I made it.

Fifty-five I was when in the middle of a lecture,

In front of my students

In between Homer and Ginsberg,

My appendix burst. Pop.

Yes, I thought I was going to die. But

I made it.

I went down the tunnel, I saw that light.

And they brought me back. So

I made it.

I made it because someone had a dream of healthcare for all.

I made it because someone said this is for me, and free.

I made it because some idealistic rebel thought I deserved it.

So, when I think of why I’m here, I think of it,

When I think of all my mother’s work, I think of it,

And when I go into that little room, I vote for it.

I’ve loved it since the day I was born.

The NHS is for life, not just for emergencies.

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