Salzverstreuer
Salz und Feuer
Schneeverbrenner
Weihnachtsmänner
Herzen weicher
Liebe reicher
Jahresende
Lebenswende.
Alles kommt und alles geht
Älter werdend, Erde dreht
Dieser Tag kommt nie zurück
Doch unerfüllt, sein Traum von Glück.
Was wird kommen nächstes Jahr?
Der will wissen, bleibet wahr
Alles tagt und alles treibt
Nur das Wahrhaftige bleibt.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Shone the New Star
Like a Comet
Blessed tail a-resting nobly
Upon the manger
A guardian, a herald
Of Eternal Love
Of Eternal Light
And I saw a smile
‘Twas an Angel singing
And a Child with serious eyes
Smiling greetingly
Into a world full of strange creatures
Long lost –
A candle is re-lit
A cradle is rocked with overflowing light
The Bearer of the Crown
Came simply
And left simply
And nobody can know completely
How much love He had
How much pain He felt
How much He loved and hurt
A Stranger
A Hero
The Incarnation of Love Itself
The Love of God
Yea, Thou art He
Jesus, the Christ
The Son of the Living God!
Amen.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Das Jahr ist anders viel
Anders gelaufen als erwartet
Erhofft. Nur heute kommen
Die selben alten Gefühle wieder
Hoch.
Der Schmerz unerklärlich
Und Nostalgie und Verlust ohne Name
Und es ist alles vorbei –
Nur ich habe überlebt, im einsamen
Loch.
Diese Glocken so uralt, so vertraut
Tröstend, wissend, alles was du
Leidest ist ein wiederkehrender
Glockenklang. Sei stark, sei
Schwach.
Mensch, sei Mensch. Menschen scheiden
Trennung ist euer Schicksal, denn
Ihr müsst euch trennen, um weiter
Zu wachsen. Traure deiner Kindheit nicht
Nach.
Die Seele, die erwacht und lacht
Ihr wird heute Weihenacht.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I fell into the knight’s trap
Of trying to protect my mother
From my father
Nay
Of seeing things from her point of view
And refusing to look at them from his
Forgetting that he and I are the same –
A feathered castle is the strongest prison –
When I became a man too
Then I knew
That wittingly or unwittingly
She had simply divided father and son
For decades of lifetimes
And
Brought me together with my father
In my heart
Today.
A knight should free the maiden –
But then
Thereafter
He should remember
To free himself too
From the maiden
And ride back home
To his own castle.
Never stay.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
image: blitzmaerker/pixabay
A few birds still twitter
Even when the woods are cold
And when a gentle wind blows
And the autumn leaves russle
Hush hush
Around my ears
Then my years drop away again
Back to the beginning
And rush ahead once more to the end.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Your silence deafens music
The songs don’t move me anymore
But to tears
Your absence ‘tis so loud
Woke me up with a jolt last night
And your emptiness shivered
And I recalled your poems by name
The rain, cheeky, in your hair
The palm wine melody line of dancing pain
It is our way
To do the things that cause us pain
And then share the pain with each other.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
So they faced me
If I was half a man, I would face them back
Good thing I was full man, not half
Or I would have fallen for the illusion
That you have to fight to be a man
So they turned away
If I had a little sense, I would beg for mercy
Good thing I had much sense, not a little
Or I would have fallen for the delusion
That you have to join the crowd to have a face
So they attacked the strangers
If I loved my kind, I would join in the attack
Good thing I loved humankind, not just my kind
Or I would have fallen for the mirage
That you have to hate strangers to love your own
The world is full of cynics
Who on earth still believes anything good?
Raise your hand in the air
And wave it like you just don’t care
If you really don’t care
There are many ways to fall asleep
Many ways to hide away
Many ways to deceive yourself into believing
Your mask is better than your face
Is better than yourself.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Love, mountain of salvation
For human and every nation
Fountain of water of life
In every joy and every strife
School for the commencement of tomorrow
Full of fulfilment, free of sorrow
So if I had another chance
I’d do it all again
For without this rhythmn, this chant, this dance
Life’s sure a lane, but a lonely lane.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije,
May 1990.
swallow that pride
step aside
that narrow heart, it is a road
open it wide
lei in that sunshine
look out the window
that thing out there that makes you
feel so good, it is light
and you’ve got it in your eyes
sometimes, locked away
i espy the large grey cloud
i understand that you are proud
is it so hard to let go?
to let those feelings show?
guess it must really be hard or
you would have done it long ago –
i see it in your eyes.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
When your friends frown at you, as you wonder what you have done wrong, remember that frowning can be a façade with which the supreme virtue in you masks its beauty, because of your envy or its love.
And when your friends smile, as you endeavour to smile along, remember too that smiling is the most convenient façade behind which the supreme vice in you can hide itself and remain undetected, unchecked.
And tears, even tears – our most sacred tears – cannot be trusted. For save when you cry to yourself alone, you betray. Friend, when you cry to me, you betray me, so long as you know why you are crying. And if you do not possess this knowledge, then it is your soul that betrays you. And you still betray me.
And, finally, there is Seeming, ah, Seeming… the supreme garment of all, which I weaved my very own self. Nothing is as dear to me as my Seeming, for it ensures that when I am with you I can feel at home without, at the same time, ceasing to feel completely at home with myself. Yes, Seeming is indeed the supreme garment, almost tending towards nature. Almost. If only it did not leave me divided amongst myselves – I cannot stand!
Façades. People hide behind façades, of ignorance or wisdom, of inarticulateness or eloquence, of bravery or cowardice. Human hides innocence and nakedness behind façades, for fear of being shunned by fellow human for being mad or simply different. We hide behind façades of which lying is barely even one. And the worst part of it all is that we have forgotten, forgotten going into hiding, forgotten who, forgotten what, we really are – and, in our gruesome attempt to belong, have finally become the façades behind which we die.
Think of a worse hell, and I’ll give you a clap.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 