Have you ever listened to
The night talking to itself
While you lay there beside one another
And not a word occurred to you?
You see the end approaching
Like a boat coming to the shore
To take you away
Away from a laughter called love
And as your worlds drift apart
In the space of one short night
Strange, but no words occur to you
To adequately say goodbye.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
If you’re a wall
Don’t pretend to be a door
Or promise me a window
Stand tall to your word
So I can lean on you
When I’m feeling trapped
Gasping for air, seeking light
Don’t let me come running to you
Thinking you will open
I will hate you forever
But, more than that,
My trust will grow wings and fly away.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
They share things with one another
Which some say husband and wife
Ought not share with each other
Yet they do –
When I asked them why, they paused
And the tables turned and they
Said we are not husband and wife
We are married only for the sake of society
In truth we are friends and enemies in one
Lovers, fighters and sojourners – born
Of the same madness, of the same truth
Of the same sadness and joy and mystery –
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
An azure mind paints lightly the horizon
Its thoughts a cloudy mess
That grow old too quickly and fall to
Your knees from these incontinent skies
Like a stranger walking through the
Valley of the Shadow of Death
I trek noiselessly through my thoughts
And leave the plane-flying to the pilots
The reason why these things are writing me
Is because I have ripped out old pages
And need to be re-marked, re-bled, re-lined
For I have lost my old mind.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I don’t know where I’m going with this
I am a footprint in the dark night
That keeps repeating itself
Endlessly, yet it’s going somewhere
It is a mystery to me why I ask
You to trust me, although I know
Neither the way nor the goal –
I know only the stubborn Urge in me.
And I know you are a part of this Urge
When it hurts you, it hurts me
I don’t know where I’m going with it
All I know is you’re coming with me.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I hold you tenderly
Like a precious thought
I sparingly share
Only with strangers
For they know not its worth
Will not rob me of it or its meaning or
Crush it to death like a writer
Crushes an idea in his mind –
Might be a butterfly
Might be a petal
Might be a story that would have changed minds –
Gone, unwritten, unspoken, unshared.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Ich träumte
Eine Stimme hinter mir
Ne Freundin zu ihrer Freundin:
Der ist so stark
Echt, der ist so stark
Das ist krass
Er hat seine Krallen und Zähne
Tief also aber richtig richtig tief
In mich hinein gesunken
Und lässt nicht mehr los…
Ich werde wahnsinnig
Das ist echt so irre!
Tut es nicht weh, hörte ich meine Stimme fragen.
Ne, also Ja. Aber so passt es richtig.
Und ich dachte an uns und war beruhigt
Und war wach.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
UNRAVELLING THE mystery that is my own soul, I pondered and sought; I wondered about my beginning. Woman and man in a garden. Which garden? East or west? Home is best, they say.
So I went home into my spirit-man and discovered an a different person dwelling within, staring back at me with my own face but not my own eyes.
“Different person,” I asked him, “Who are you and what are you doing inside my heart?”
But he only returned my gaze without giving an answer, and I sensed that I must find the answer myself. Myself? But who is myself?
The mystery took shape, deepened, arose. I wandered from pole to pole. But each time I thought I had found my goal, I saw the different person inside my heart again, looking back at me with my own face but not with my own eyes.
I wanted to scream, but my heart rejected this. I lay me down to sleep, but sleep ejected me. So on and on I wander and sojourn, on and on I go, seeking to unravel this mystery that is simply my very own self.
And each time I think I have found the answer, I see him again, a different person inside my soul, staring back at me with my face but not with my eyes.
Who are you, I wonder, you stranger in my soul?
What are you, why are you, so different, so alien, so silent, so bold?
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
A dog is barking higher up
On the mountain
A worried sounding woof
Every few seconds
I wonder if someone is missing again
Down in the valley there is a train
That rushes past. It sounds like
A river every few minutes
Carrying someone’s dreams into
Another person’s thoughts
I’m trying not to pay attention to the
Conversation taking place beside me
The emotions are strong
Father and daughter gently tying
Up the memories of years past
Just like I waited six days
To finish this poem
So they also waited all these years
To finally say, at the departure, I love you
Please forgive me.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Only the one you love
Can make you feel small
And vulnerable
Go easy on love
Like a fresh leaf awakening
Let your every touch be thoughtful
I die when you kill me
I sigh when you kill me
I cry when you kill me
I have no shield against your thrust
Look into my eyes before you strike me dead.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 