Look not too far
In search of what is gone
Because what was
Is what will be
In me is the fire and the power
The rock, the stone, the adamantium
Is inside the heart.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
2014
AFTER PAIN
And after pain comes joy
If you let the pain have its way
And yet you conquered it
And after pain comes love
If the pain washes you truly clean
And yet you conquered it
And after pain comes life
If you walked hand in hand with pain
And conquered it
Your pain is not stronger than you
You are stronger than it
That is why it tries so hard to hurt you
A little
Because it will not last long
Wait a little longer, baby
Just a little –
Pain is our bridge.
Do you see the morningland
Waving in the distance?
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
ALL THE THINGS THAT THE WORDS DO NOT SAY
I wish I were a painter, to draw the pictures and paint the concepts that words cannot hold – my words. I believe there are greater poets now and ever, better writers, greater wordists, because I’ve tried and tried but still I’ve not succeeded in telling you what I know. I cannot form it in words, I cannot form it in thoughts, I just know it and understand that it is the world of things which the words have never said.
You cannot tell a woman that you love her. The moment you say it, it is gone. You can tell a man the truth, but you cannot tell him what the truth is – only he must find it out for himself one day. You cannot describe beauty in words. Even the beauty of a beautiful poem cannot be put into poetry again. You did it without thinking – and the moment you started thinking, you did not see it again.
Think a little – little thoughts…
A picture is still worth a thousand and one words. A woman wounded me mortally, yet try as I did, I could not explain in words what she did, and yet I know it Clearly.
You can never change anybody but yourself, because you are the one person to whom you can speak without words, always. And once there is truth, then there is nothing more to say. You can only say the truth, my brother, but you cannot make anybody understand. But, take heart… silence teaches the last lesson finally finally finally finally.
All the things that the words do not say, silence says always.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
PARADISE IS HIDDEN BETWEEN YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW
Do not go too fast, do not go too slow, nor stop, nor stop to look back, nor look back, nor go back – walk on at a steady pace. Paradise is hidden between yesterday and tomorrow.
Do not love too far, do not love too near, love as you walk, walk as you love, forward calmly, forward calmly, nor be afraid of heartbreak. Paradise is hidden between yesterday and tomorrow.
Do not dream too much, do not dream too little, do not trust too quickly, do not trust too late, do not work too hard, do not work too soft, do not cry during the day, do not laugh in anybody’s face, do not expect that those whom you love also love you, do not expect that those whom you understand also understand you, do not assume that those whom you see not also do not see you, do not assume that those whom you love not also do not love you.
It is in your heart today, it is in your hands today. Forget the past, son, forgive everyone who ever hurt you, nor dream alone of goodness only in the future – Paradise is hidden between yesterday and tomorrow.
The person who loves you the most is the last person you would think of. Love me, dear, please love me dear. Paradise is hidden between yesterday and tomorrow. And if we let it slip away today, we will not and never find it again tomorrow, but will walk on lonely again, like yesterday.
If you love me like I know you do, please hold my hand forever.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
PURELY, IT IS A MATTER OF LOVE
The dance of the woman in the market
Unloosed poetry
Here it goes, there she flows
Away…
Again I was baffled
Again I was moved
And asked myself one another time:
How many rivers
Meander within one woman?
The things that men desire in women
Are nothing compared to the things
Which women only know in their silent, sleeping heart
That they can give…
And, purely, it was something
That was in paradise on the day
That you and I were born
Children of the rose
Children of love.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
THOSE WHOM WE LEAVE BEHIND
When we love, we move…
When we move, we leave someone behind –
Whatever happens to those whom we leave behind?
I have often wondered
But I truly do not know
If I will recognise them
When I meet them again in a new time.
When we love, we move…
When we move, we leave someone behind –
Whatever happens to those whom we leave behind?
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
THE BLOG GOES ON
Well, dear year, you’ve come and you’ve gone, like a fleeting lover. And you’ve left behind a treasure chest of memories, clothed sometimes in layers of prose and poetry, full of promise, ribboned with a thin string of mystery.
And I’ve loved every bit of you, my maturing lovely blog. What new thoughts shall we share this year? Will the hopes be new or old? For hope, yes, hope, is wine.
I am a million unspoken intuitions and more. There is always so much to share, so much more – and so many perceptions to bear witness to.
Can a stream, running, come to rest, and still be a stream? Not in reality and not in dream. And so we’ll keep on blogging, with hearts of poetry and minds of prose – literature is our calendar, with which we mark and document our passage through time, counting one day at a time.
This year too I hope to share something everyday – maybe a classic poem, maybe a short story, maybe something else… the blog goes on.
Happy New Year.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
WINDOWS OPENING
Windows are opening out of
And into my soul
Like trap-doors trapping out
And waterfalls falling down
And flowers flowering forever away
From night to day
And wailing winds unafraid of me
Of whom I am not afraid
And wishing pains and painful wishes
And undying longings and the longing for immortality
And this poem, like this strange year, is finished.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
SILVESTRA
Und sie flog, verflog
Ein Jahr wie eine Nacht
Flüstern und atmen, leise und laut
Und alle meine Gedanken
Und alle meine Empfindungen
Meine Gefühle, meine Wünsche
Bedürfnisse, Geheimnisse, geheime Schritte
Alles waren Fußabdrücke im fallenden Schnee
Lautlos.
Und alles trankst du auf
Wie Wein…
Das habe ich am meisten genossen
Daß du mir alles lautlos nahmst
Gabst mir nichts im Gegenzug zurück
Es fehlt noch ein Tag, dann ist das Jahr um –
Auch ihn trinke, ganz und tief
Denn ich will komplett verschwinden.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
THE PERSON WITHIN
I saw a big spirit
Carrying a small body
Upright and light and taller
Than the giants that dwarfed her
I saw a strong spirit
Carrying a crippled body
Gracefully, effortlessly, healing
The minds that came his way.
Like the seasons that change
So every Body will go
But our natures will stay
And spirit, spirit will find a way
To break through the shell
And say Hello.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 