A poem by Benjamin Zephaniah

Wickedness tried to kill greatness.

In a corner of South Africa

Where they believed there were

No mothers and fathers

No sisters and brothers

And

Where they believed

One could not hear the cries of another,

Wickedness tried to kill greatness.

Wickedness tried to build a nation

Of white tyrants.

In a corner of the planet

They arrogantly downpressed

They did not overstand

As they suffered the illusion of the God complex,

But these words are not for wickedness.

These words are for greatness,

The greatness that inspired doctors and nurses

To become educated in the art of freedom getting,

The greatness that inspired educators to become liberators

And a nation of children to become great themselves.

South Africans in the valley of the shadow of death

Feared no wickedness

Because greatness was at their side

And greatness was in their hearts,

When the wind of change went south

Greatness was it's trustee, guided by truth.

Now we who witnessed the greatness

Sing and dance to his legacy,

We who muse his intelligence

Spread the good news in Reggae, Soul, Marabi

And the theatre of liberation,

Knowing that nobody dies until they're forgotten

We chant Biko today

Biko tomorrow

Biko forever.

Wickedness tried to kill greatness

Now wickedness is dead

And greatness lives

In Islington

As he lives in Cape Town.