A poem for our times

The British by Benjamin Zephaniah

(serves 60 million)

Take some Picts, Celts and Silures

And let them settle,

Then overrun them with Roman conquerors.

Remove the Romans after approximately 400 years

Add lots of Norman French to some

Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings,

then stir vigorously.

Mix some hot Chileans, cool

Jamaicans, Dominicans,

Trinidadians and Bajans with some

Ethiopians, Chinese,

Vietnamese and Sudanese.

Then take a blend of Somalians,

Sri Lankans, Nigerians

And Pakistanis,

Combine with some Guyanese

And turn up the heat.

Sprinkle some fresh Indians,

Malaysians, Bosnians,

Iraqis and Bangladeshis together with

some

Afghans, Spanish, Turkish, Kurdish,

Japanese

And Palestinians.

Then add to the melting pot.

Leave the ingredients to simmer.

As they mix and blend allow their languages to flourish

Binding them together with English.

Allow time to be cool.

Add some unity, understanding, and respect for the future,

Serve with justice

And enjoy.

Note: All the ingredients are equally important. Treating one ingredient better than another will leave a bitter unpleasant taste.

Warning: An unequal spread of justice will damage the people and cause pain. Give justice and equality to all.

[Damon1864 Volunteer]

I love this poem and it's all true, thank you so much for sharing. A little bit of love, respect and justice goes a very long way. Have a lovely day and take care 😊 Bernadette xx xx 🌈

[sassy59]

Really good thank you Hanne. Benjamin Zephaniah certainly has a great way with words. Thank you. Xxxx

[Hidden]

One of the world's greatest poets Hanne, thanks for posting. 🎉❣

[HungryHufflepuff]

I love Benjamin Zephaniah, such a great poet and philosopher.

[RoadRunner44]

This poem is a really interesting way of sending out a good, strong message, ..we are all human beings. I love the contents and found it very uplifting. I will be keeping it for future reference and pass it on to friends and family. Thanks Hanne62.

[Hidden]

Not to mention respect for nature and wildlife of land, air and sea.

Disrespect and observe what we now witness and see !

Do we get what has happened, to our world, the air that we breathe

Care for nature and wildlife in abundance if man with respect will treat.

Health is created by observing the laws of the universe,

the natural law of things

Do and you will be done by

it was told right from the beginning.

How many I wonder understand fully the meaning

Each to his own but the law continues even if unseen.

BK

[Hidden]

The recipe device is clever isn’t it?

I saw a programme a couple of years ago, where they analysed the DNA of a “white British and proud” member of EDL. He insisted he was “100% English” (whatever that means) but turned out to be a melting pot of ancestry from all over the globe. He was astonished & disbelieving, it obviously shook him to the core. Ignorance is to blame for a lot of bigotry. Eg the guy arrested for peeing next to Keith Palmer’s memorial said in court that he was in London to protect statues. But when asked, he couldn’t name a single statue! It’s tragic really.

[Angelagone in reply to Hidden]

I wonder how many people are 100% English? Part of my ancestry is Dutch and Danish and theres a lot of Celt in there too. I've always been proud to be a bit of a mongrel !

[Hidden in reply to Angelagone]

If you go back far enough, I mean thousands of years, don’t we all hail from the Middle East? I presume so. But in terms of generations you sound like a true European 👍

[Hidden in reply to Angelagone]

This might interest you Angela sciencemag.org/news/2017/05...

[Angelagone in reply to Hidden]

What a fascinating article. Many scientists, I believe have made the point that biologically race is a nonsense.

[Hidden in reply to Angelagone]

Yes, and usually science articles go over my head but I managed to follow that one!

[O2Trees in reply to Angelagone]

That's right. It should be better known and taught in schools too.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

It may surprise you to know, that everyone has neanderthal in their DNA, no one but no one is pure anything and is very likely we all came out of Africa. Now that is going almost as far back to newt What silly people are the human race.

[hypercat54]

Love it. 😁🧡 xx

[cofdrop-UK]

Beautiful. Thank you.

Cx

[peege]

Thanks H. Perfect 🤗

[O2Trees]

Excellent - I didnt know this one, so many thanks Hanne62

[Hidden in reply to O2Trees]

It’s quite old - maybe 20yrs? But seems very relevant just now

[leo60]

Amen xx