2013

GRACE AND POWER

~ Che ~ 6 Comments

Everywhere I sought it
I sought in every land
To know if Nature’d wrought it
Anywhere beneath her hand
But though I searched with all my might
And though I looked forever
I’ve never seen before my sight
An ugly flower ever.

Sometimes it might seem to be
She‘s hidden and can‘t be seen
Through land or on the sea
As though she never hath been
Yet when ever a Flower blossoms
When a Flower blooms
Pure beauty is all I see in dozens
In all my heart’s rooms.

Did Heaven ever come to earth?
Did Beauty ever give birth?
Womanhood indeed is Heaven’s flower
Heaven’s beauty, Heaven’s grace and Heaven’s power.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

JUST DANCE

~ Che ~ 3 Comments

A road of water, slippery
A bridge of knife-edge, treacherous
A fall of repetition, weakening
An opacity of reflection, saddening
A backdoor of wall, illusionary
A tiger of library, jealous
A conscience of intuition, merciless
Hardfall on softpain, intangibles
Awakening twice, once to life and once to self
Accepting the conditions of the journey
Intangibles, contradictions, repetitions, unpredictables
Armed with Intuition and intellect
Go with the flow.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

MEINE SONNE

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

Eine Nacht wie jene Tage
An deiner Seite
In deiner schönen Weite

Schade. Du hasst mich jetzt
Nur Haß kann die Liebe ersetzen
Nur Nacht kann dem Tage folgen

Ferne ferne bleibe ich deinem Hassen
Bis es sich ausgehasst hat…
Meine Sonne wird aufsteigen –

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

AUTHORITY WITHIN

~ Che ~ 4 Comments

There is a poet
He lives in me
I am his host and his prisoner –

He is not married to my wife
He is not related to my family members
He does not come from my country
He does not work for my employer
He is a recluse
A hermit
Who lurks sometimes seen sometimes unseen
In the waters within my heart
I heard his name
They called him Spirit.

He looks at me
With his burning eyes
Only when he has something to say
Then, calling my name, he commands:
“Pen, write…”
And I write.
And that’s all I know about him.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

ABSENCE

~ Che ~ 15 Comments

Random quantum sugar
Sweet on my tongue

Fleetingly I savour your love
When it comes
Unexpectedly, like a suddenly remembered dream
You never knew you once dreamed
… when?

Random how it leaps
Madness joy how it keeps
My lonely heart, how it weeps
Tonight

Unhappy to have grown used to your
Absence.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

HARD TO GRASP

~ Che ~ 8 Comments

ONCE UPON a time, a man woke up and gazed upon a thought hanging in the air above his bed.

And the longer he looked at it, the more it confused him. And when he looked away, he forgot it.

Through the day it disturbed him, a memory he was trying to remember, but could not remember what he was trying to remember. But this he remembered: I am not who I think I am.

So this thought – I am not who I think I am – stayed with him for many hours, each as long as a decade, as he tried to fathom its meaning. Verily, it became his very name. His very aim.

Many hearts. In which one lies the answer? So he broke them open and left them behind, ravaged, the sought unfound.

He is written about in the books of men. His character has been copied and reproduced in stories down the ages – the raging, ravaging beast that consumes hearts and upturns nations. In truth he is a tireless seeker, and always giving. In shrouded truth. Love and peace cloaked in battle and tears. Shredding hearts to pieces with merciless thirst. How many times has he altered history, chasing the mirror? Thus has his troublesome picture been painted before him repeatedly. Thus too does he see himself, hours later.

But all I want is to find the key. Burning Flame, you are not who you THINK you are. This thought nags in him. Remember.

I am a warrior. No.

I am a lover. No.

You are a bridge. Just be.

Just be.

There! There it is again, the morning-thought, hanging once more in the sky above his mind. Hard to grasp:

Just be.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

MY POETRY BENCH

~ Che ~ 7 Comments

There is a graveyard thence
With benches placed all over
Where people come a-steady
To ponder life and death

There is a certain bench
Apart from every other
Where I sit when poetry
Takes clean away my breath.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

UNSICHTBAR

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

Gitarren zehn unsichtbar
Blut ohne Herz und ohne Schmerz

Paare küssen im Silbermondlicht
Ohne Herz und ohne Schmerz

Ohne Scherz stirbt aller Ernst
Ohne Blut kein Glut, kein Mut, kein Wut

Ohne Saat kein Gut.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

SHIVER

~ Che ~ 4 Comments

The quiet quiet of that night over there
Look, that night is waiting over there
What a night! Quiet and black
The blackness swallowing up the fullmoon
It is a blind night
With a will so dark it smothers
It’s starry children
And blinds its one bright eye.

I shiver
As you approach
I shiver
As you reach out to me
I shiver
As you approach
Baby, I shiver.

I hesitate to look out through the window
Into the distance
At that night waiting for me
Me and my heart, my sojourning heart

The eerie cat is silent with fear
The snake slithers hastily away
I fear that night, but I must approach it
With my heart of flames – I am the sun
The cold sun.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije..

DISCERNING

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

I fear
The daily commute
To the valley of the mute
The echoless cry of my silent flute
Digs a hole in my soul
Wringe me mad
I fear

Mockery sticks his head around the door
You no waving yo flag no mo?
Blackhawk down
My dreams, stranded shipwrecks
Scuttle each hurriedly into safety
Hiding they fearfully await the scorching passage
Of the locals’ raging raid –
Some will be caught, shot, mocked
Some will sacrifice themselves
That the finer ones may escape the drape
For tomorrow’s blossoming

Quiet now
Wait for the Sign.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.