Obodo Chi
Obodo echi
Udo Chi
Ga a-bata echi
Chi ukwu
Chi na eke
Chi udo
Udo Chi
Ga a-bata echi
Mepee obi gị
Ka udo-echi
Bata n’ime obi gị
Ụbọchị taa.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
2013
ROW YOUR BOAT
Do you see
Those two boats
On the river?
Two brothers
Will row, side by side
Into the sunset.
One will dock
On the golden banks
While the other
Will row on
And they will wave
Goodbye to each other.
This is the way
Of the world
Of love and loss
Of meeting and parting
Of friendship and memory
Of life and death.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Picture:
My brother Kwame and I
University of Ibadan, Nigeria
1995
A few weeks later, he passed on in a car accident.
This was our last picture together.
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How many go ahead
Who yet remember to erect road signs?
How many who break bread
Remember to leave a trail of crumbs behind?
I did not when I was ahead
But realised it not until I too fell behind.
Your hole yeast bread
Won’t rise to your comfort in lonely times.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
RÜCKKEHR ZU MIR
Ich bin zu lang zu viele
Nebenwege gebückt gegangen
Zufrieden in der Annahme
Geliebte Menschen glücklich gemacht
zu haben –
Aber nie mehr. Heute
Kommt diese düstere Wanderzeit
zu Ende.
Sei es Wand oder Mauer
Sei es Wald, Wüste oder Meer
Oder Berg, Feuer oder Trauer
Ist es mein Weg
Werde ich ihn gehen.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
AT NIGHT…
Truth undresses
Conscience pricks
Contemplation caresses
What conversation can’t fix.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
THE MIDNIGHT CANDLE
Spirit flame in the world of it-doesn’t-matter
Radiant star never-the-less in the darkness
Night is a blessing for lost dreamers
It is the world-wanderer’s permanent address
Night makes the seeing blind
And the insight sharp as blade
The fire within will warm the cold
Feet of dew
Young mind, never mind
The world well and shiny made
It is for the old
You were born to bring the new.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
IMAGINATION
They were not decorations on our wall
We were shadows on theirs
Flickering like candle thoughts
Gathering, falling and dispersing
Like broods of clouds
When we stand across the divide
Looking at each other, it’s hard to tell
Who is real
And who is the figment of whose imagination.
Writer, did you write your book
Or did your book write you?
Artist, did you paint that look
In the eye of the portrait watching you
Or are you just a thought in its mind?
If you look, sometimes you will find
That the musician is the instrument
And the song is the conductor of his movement.
And when an architect erects a building
He is only doing so to house therein his restless feelings.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
NATURE SHAPES AND NATURE FORMS
Nature shapes and nature forms
Humans, mountains, seasons, worms
Nature cools and nature warms
Hearts and loves, volcanoes and storms
But stretch out your hand to touch nature
And all you’ll touch are her dorms and norms
For nature herself is hidden from capture
And all we see are her shapes and forms.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
MENSCHLICHKEIT
Guter Rat ist teuer
Gütige Tat noch scheuer
Als ein scheues Reh
Die Welt, sie tut weh
Wessen Selbst ist selbstlos?
So klein und doch eben so groß
Geben ohne verlangen
Sagt man, ist empfangen
Spürt man irgendwie aber auch
Unerklärliches Wissen im Bauch
Haben ist ein Gewicht
Es sei, man habe Licht
Und dann so ein Tag
Wie heute, über dem es lag
Durch Hoffnung befreit
Der Drang nach Menschlichkeit.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
MADIBA
Kindness was his rod
With it he parted the red sea
Kindness was his road
Wide enough for all of humanity
Step forth, step forth, step forth
West, East, South, North.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 