DAY’S START

A peace of mind and a peace of heart -
The path outlined on the inner chart -
Ready to make of love life’s highest art -
A peace of mind and a piece of your heart -
This is how the day should start.

You of me, I of you, a part -
Nothing and no one can tear us apart.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

HARD AND EASY

The simplest things can turn hard
All of a sudden and for no reason
Other than you made a small error
Of judgment in the easy season.

The hardest things can become easy
All of a sudden and without effort
Simply because you change your perception
Because mentality is a form of transport.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

ONLY ONE THING

A new phase
A new song plays
My heart differently prays
The end of days
The going of new ways
Only one thing stays
The same, missing you.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

GORDIAN KNOT

I can’t find the words
I can’t find the right chords
Our messages have become swords

Cutting deeper than we thought.
Will they cut through our Gordian knot
And free us? Or not? But free us from what?

From ourselves or from our fears?
My anxiety level and my tears
Will colour the remainder of my years.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

TIME TO PART

It’s time to part
With peace of heart,
Reconciliation the chart -
Lord, how great Thou art.

Finally letting go
Of pain and sorrow,
Of wanting and woe -
You reap what you sow.
You forgive, forget and grow.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

LOVERS AND TRUTH

Lovers, you have to tell yourselves the truth. The only thing that may unite or separate you is the truth. The only thing that should keep you together or tear you apart is the truth. The only thing that can really merge or divide you is the truth. Truth is a function of love and love is a function of truth. You cannot separate them one from the other because the aim of love is to give you freedom but, as we know, only the truth can set you free.

If you love something, set it free – if it comes back to you, it is yours; if it doesn’t, it never was. If you love something, tell it the truth – if it stays with you, it is yours; if it doesn’t, it never was. If something claims that it loves you, ask it the truth – if it tells you the truth, it is yours; if it doesn’t, it never was. Truth is the ultimate determiner of love.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains

ADJUSTING

You overcome the pain
By becoming one with it.
You lighten the rain
By learning to dance in it.
You conquer rejection
By accepting it.
You unburden affection
By confessing it.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

EMOTIONAL FREEDOM

God is teaching me to not be emotionally dependent on any human being on Earth; to have nobody of whom I think or feel that I cannot live without this person. It’s a painful process, but to everybody who has rejected or is rejecting me, I say Thank you. Whatever your intention was, God has made something greater out of it.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains

NEVER STOP

Don’t be ashamed and don’t be afraid
To follow your heart and go for your love;
Rejection can shatter the plans best laid –
The important thing is that your heart did move
And you moved outwardly along with this inner motion,
For movement is the spirit’s most important need –
It will climb every mountain and cross every ocean
Until it has itself from all its shackles freed.
The soul will always love something or someone,
And this love will make it laugh and make it bleed
And make it outgrow itself and never be done,
Following the path Home wherever it may lead.
Some chapters end in joy, and some end in sorrow,
But neither of these can hold the spirit down forever –
An inner restlessness will grip it again tomorrow;
Until it gets back Home, it will never stop. Never.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

TREACHEROUS

There’s no understanding it
There’s no explaining it
Humans are treacherous
Just start accepting it.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river