English

FIELDS OF LIGHT

~ Che ~ 3 Comments

In fields of light above this realm
Where sight and sound are one
I chanced upon a little elm
A woman sat upon

From far afar I sharp’d my eyes
To peer good at this sight
And soon came I to see thread-ties
‘Tween her and the High Light

She sat so still, she did not stir
Or so it seemed to me
‘Til I was no more far, but near
And then began to see

Than in her hand she held a flute
The longest yet I’ve seen
Which stretched gently until its root
Her small lips was between

And she it was who through her sounds
Was forming all these fields
Of beauteous light where joy abounds
And my heart rapture yields

These fields of light I long have passed
Yet never will forget
That those blessed hills, meads, groves were massed
But through that simple set

Of flute and woman weaving music
Healing broken hearts
And forming fields of light of scenic
Beauty for these parts.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

INTO THE SECOND CALM

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A period of difficulty, well endured with reflection and honesty, will awaken calm within the soul. Calm brings clarity.

If you continue to rise higher while calm, you will one day break into a second world of utter confusion which jumps upon you just when your calm reaches its peak. This second confusion is the most difficult path, because it confounds your new knowledge and laughs at your newfound calm. At its height, you will lose all hope.

If, however, you remain calm, even in the heart of your confused hopelessness and hopeless confusion, something New will awaken within and overtake you, and set you free, reborn. Because from the valley the next step is upwards, provided you have not first buried yourself in dejection in the valley.

Even when there is no hope, yet continue to hope. Even when you are broken, and rebroken, yet trust in life. – And you shall enter into the Second Calm. And, come what may, nothing and nobody can take away this Calm from you, because it is the other side of pain, where spirit dies no more.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE WORLD AROUND YOU?

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Music made me
A bird saved me
A smile undid me
A woman slew me
A friend betrayed me
And I dug myself out of the Grave.

A wound bled me
A sword healed me
A dream baffled me
A heart became me… became I…
A Call reached me
Here, there and everywhere –

Now, tell me
If you understand humanity yet?

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

WISDOM

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

Wisdom. To see the limitations of others, and see the limitations in myself which stop me from seeing the limitations in others.

Wisdom. To accommodate the faults of others, and to accommodate the faults in myself which prevent me from accommodating the faults in others.

Wisdom. To understand the confusion of others, and understand the confusion in myself which blocks me from understanding the confusion in others.

Wisdom. To fathom foolishness, and fathom that which can never fully fathom the foolishness of man.

Wisdom. To be aware of my ignorance, and of my knowledge, and of the difference between the two.

Wisdom. Lord, make me wise in Thine Ways. Amen.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

ONLY US

~ Che ~ 12 Comments

It is not a joke;
But everyone is laughing
As though it were…

Early in the morning
I can hear voices whispering
Before dawn…
But when I peered out through the window
I saw nothing
Yet heard something
Which sounded like whispering voices
Talking to me
Telling me what to write

And I write without complaint
Even though the pain is sometimes astronomical –
Yet I write.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THOUGHTS WE MET

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Che sitting by Lake Grasmere
I won’t forget
Every thought I met
Blowing in the breeze
Resting beneath the trees
And mirrored on each lake
Asleep or awake
Before which we waited
And silently contemplated
Another wonderful day
Of this lovely holiday…

Thoughts that grow
Like flowers in the meadow
And time after time
Like a recurrent rhyme
Will yield new fruit
And like a Magic flute
Even as I age
Page after page
Will always light the light
Of Insight.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije. (Poems Inspired By The Lake District)
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HOW DO YOU STOP LOVING SOMEONE?

~ Che ~ 12 Comments

How do you stop loving someone? How do you forget her eyes and her face and her secret smile and the unwordable look she bears upon her countenance?

How do you stop loving someone? How do you forget the times shared? How do you forget the Love, the eternalness of your togetherness? How do you make it right forever?

How do you stop loving someone? How do you uproot love from your soul? A love that wants to remain. Someone who loves you so. A union that begs for fulfilment. How do you not continue an ancient story in a modern world? How does an old tune not give birth to a new tale? How does a stream die?? It just resurfaces in other places…

How do birds of one wing not visit heaven together? How does loneliness not seek itself? How does fire not burn? How do sowed seeds not grow? How can you restrain the moving sun, unless you first stop the rotation of the earth…? But then how so many other people die, how many other things are lost?

How do waterfalls desist from falling? Two elephants in one heart, two hearts in one elephant. If you kill the elephant and open the heart in order to understand this phenomenon, what if they all die, elephants and hearts?

How do you stop loving someone? I don’t know.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

EMPTY AGAIN

~ Che ~ 7 Comments

In heaven
I saw birds
Even blackbirds

So I wrote
This poem
Which is just words

And when I was done
And looked up
It was an empty sky.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

BLUE SECRET RIVERS

~ Che ~ 5 Comments

My blood is blue river today
Every thought of you beknights me
Makes me feel like royalty
For thou art my queen…

If I strode across mountains
They would prostrate before my will
Proud to be footstool
To the queen’s lover

Naughty me
What a delicious secret
I feel like King Aka the Thirst
For I secretly drink from the queen’s fountains

My blood is blue river today
When it runs into you
You sigh…
At night I am thine king.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

WISE SAYINGS AND ORDINARY PEOPLE

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A stitch in time saves nine. –
Where are the nine in need of salvation if the one has already been saved? Find one good person in Sodom and Gomorrah, and destruction will be stayed – one good person. Just one. Is there a good person on earth?

All that glitters is not gold. –
Why aren’t they all gold if they all glitter like gold? And why does gold glitter, were it not also gold? Gold glitters because it is gold. But humans glitter because they are not gold. Good people are silent, walking unnoticed. Golden hearts do not require additional glitter to shine. The shine inside.

In November, trees and people reveal who they really are. –
In the eleventh hour, the power of humans to deceive shall begin to fail, and Creation’s autumn shall brutally strip all naked and cold, and we shall see ourselves as we are. If I deceive you, I will come naked to you tomorrow, asking for warmth. Please clothe me.

Every saying is wise, but it would be very unwise of their poets to presume themselves in any way to be sages or wise people. That would be foolishness.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.