YESTERDAY’S FACES

YESTERDAY, IT WAS as beautiful as the early morning sunlight dancing upon a rose. My heart was not my heart, but myself; and my face was not my face, but the shimmering reflection of my heart.

As I was striding once, I saw a figure hovering in the Air. But she had no wings, only the longest, most gleaming braids I ever saw, but gleaming not as bright as her eyes, eyes a-smiling straight into mine.

“Come, my friend,” called she to me in voice of purest gold, “Follow me awhile and I will show you distant places of light and harmony, yes indeed I will!”

I nodded and right there and then her words lifted me up into the magic-coloured sky where, I by her side, we flew over two crystal mountains and one silver lake and then hovered a while above a garden where children wiser than the wisest men were building beautiful castles not in the air or sand, but inside their own hearts.

And then we flew off once again and this time when we paused, a circle of beautiful winged horses with talking eyes came flying up to meet us. We mounted two and journeyed on… but where we went from there I know not anymore, for I have lost my memories of then…

Because now I wonder, like one blind, in the dark and earthly worlds of modern men. And ever, when the sun is a-dawning, or a-shinning but not burning, though it be noon, or a-setting down, I ever and again go on long, gentle strolls, as though I were trying to recapture that glorious journey which I barely remember…

And today as I wandered through dingy markets I saw a face… a woman selling decaying fish, eyes materialistic and cunning, impure seduction. Of course she was not that beautiful Maiden of my all but forgotten past.

So why then does she look so familiar? And what was it that startled her when our eyes touched? Unsettled her. But of course she cannot be that same beautiful female spirit of ancient days who I left up in glorious heights yesterday…

I hope.

– che chidi chukwumerije..

ONCE

Some things happen but
Once
In a lifetime…

It was here, it was there
It was where?
It is where?
It is gone…

It will never return.

-che chidi chukwumerije

WEGGEFÄHRTEN

Der Vogel
Stand
Einen Augenblick
Auf der Straßenlaterne
Drehte sich und flog weg…

Die Straßenlaterne
Stand
Einen Augenblick
Unter dem Vogel
Stand stockstill und bleibt noch auf dem Weg…

Wir sind alle unterwegs.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE CAGE

Stony faces
Weak arms
Biggest Guns
Emptiness.

God has turned His Face Away!
Man at Mercy of the dark
Which virgins have oiled
Their lamps?

Empty streets – stoned
Cold overnight
Sleep of death
Who is beating my heart?

Technology will cure nothing!
E-speed all the faster to communicate
Emptiness and loneliness
From me to you, you to me.

– che chidi chukwumerije.

SEX AND UNHAPPINESS

How can that be?
All this intimacy
And still not happy

All these people
All these hearts
And still so lonely

All these words
All these conversations
And your life still has no meaning

When you’re not with the one you really need

And all that sex
Is just the expression
Of unhappiness.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

BLUE PLANET BECOMES GREENHOUSE

Blue planet
Becomes greenhouse
Too little room
For blossoming big mushroom
Acid rain
Too many old thoughts undecomposed
Poisoning today’s poison

Wait to exhale
The greenhouse is sweating
Hold that thought
Oxygen rapes carbon dioxide
CO2 shits O2; O3 too
Thermometer measures rising frenzy
Barometer cooling love.

– che chidi chukwumerije.

DADDY DEAR

Ashes to ashes…

Dust to dust…

Spirit to spirit…

Have mercy, o Holy Ghost!

CDKC

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

Another anniversary of the day I beheld for the last time the noble countenance of my father. Then we closed the coffin and confered his cloak into the warm arms of Mother Earth. And set the spirt free for the Flight back Home. Always in my fondest Memories, Daddy dear… 22.5….

(Pic: my first day in Boarding School, Sep 1995 – King’s College. Lagos)

BLEIB

Das klettert aus dem grünen Gemach
meiner zartesten Erinnerungen aus –
Du warst das grüne Feld, langsam
ne, du warst ein Bach, ruhig, mein Dach –
Sorgsam und mein Haus.

Nie war die Natur schöner
als deine Echtheit – Bleib
bleib hierdrin ein bisschen länger
Weib. Bleib.

– che chidi chukwumerije.

POLAR BEAR

The ice
Spice of my life
Has thawed
Underneath my paw.

As I claw myself back to life
All I need from you
Is a splice
Of sacrifice.

– che chidi chukwumerije.

DEATH THREAT

Wanted!
Dead or alive
Hunted!
Run for your lives
Haunted!
The earth is a house of mirror
The hammer of horror

One in four mammals under threat
That was a death sentence
Crouching in the park
Lunging out of the dark
Four in four mammals under pressure
Self-preservation
Undaunted!

– che chidi chukwumerije.