Love is a strange thing It makes you accept stranger things And forgive the strangest of things. You know you love someone When you’re ready to forgive them Anything and everything As long as they love you back. Love is the crime - Those who refuse to commit Receive no pardon And never get to do the time Of their lives. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
English
HARMATTAN LEAVES
Dusty green leaves Harmattan leaves you husky With the haze of dawn and dusk West Africa will Chest Saharan breath Lovingly for three months Until it springs into the Atlantic Like a restless traveller into his lover. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
THE INNER STREET
The people on the street The street on the people Weighing them down… The people in the street The street in the people Lifting them up… What we push down Will one day rise back up. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
BEFORE I SLEEP
The tropical warmth With teeth as strong as roots Beating on lion skin drums Evening voiced on bamboo flutes Fleeting memory That happened too long ago To be remembered properly Before I sleep more miles to go. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
THE LONELY JOURNEY
The lonely journey Following your intuition Following your conviction Following your sensing Constantly needing someone But having no one To talk to. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
THE LIFE WITHIN
Allow love to conquer you Allow love to be your leader Allow love to reorder you Allow love to be your healer Let love break you Let love shake and wake you Let love take you Let love unmake and remake you When love enters, you’re in When love goes, you sin When love wins, you win Love is the life within. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
VALUE
Don’t stay with people Who don’t value you Don‘t play with people Who show you that they value you More than you thought you deserve To be valued. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
RELATIONSHIP PURPOSE
If you don’t make each other happy, then what’s the point in being together? To lift each other up when you’re feeling crappy, And be there for one another in every weather. And forgive each other when you make mistakes And learn from your actions, mistakes and reactions And make the effort to grow, no matter what it takes, Learning to understand yourselves and your actions Love is a house and a road, Is a journey and a destination, Is a relief and a load, Is intensity and elation. Love is your heart talking loud and clear, Telling you this is who I want near and dear, Telling you, Have no fear for I have no fear, Anywhere we set off to, together, we will get there. And when you laugh together And when you grow together You will one day thank the Almighty Father For bringing you together. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
RAIN MUST DROP
No raindrop stops in the middle of the sky Once it has left the cloud, it must reach the ground And there it shatters to pieces to quietly lie In the arms of the new old home it has found. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
FOCUS ON THE ESSENTIAL
It‘s okay to lose people as long as You don’t lose yourself in the process No matter how tempting. It’s okay to gain people as long as You also gain yourself in the process Inspite of how tempting it is to push aside your spiritual development in order to chase after someone who has gone outside or to adjust to and enjoy someone who has come inside. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 