Another will come one day
Just as human, but deeper, realer
But tomorrow’s human will say
None can over yesterday’s be superior –
But higher (s)he shall be
And one day too shall write movingly
Of when another too shall in the future grace the stands
Who shall in turn be misunderstood and bereft of helping hands.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
This guitar I remember
Was once a part of my life
A most tender member
A most precious joint
The soil of the start
The point of the matter
The giver of self, she gave herself up…
This guitar I remember.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
There is a well
A deep oily well
Bottomless
It has swallowed time
My life time
I live in the future
I live in the past
I can’t find the present
It has squeezed hours
Split seconds
I cannot find time
Time to explore time.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
On the way to Falkenstein
I knew you were mine
On the way from Falkenstein
I knew you were mine
But when we stood side by side
Upon that castled immortality
I knew only that the great divide
Yawns yet ‘twixt longing and reality
And if we true will call this meeting our last
Then, woman, never lie away our past.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
There are many things
That seem to be the same
But are not
Just like dawn and dusk
Those two strangers
Who have a way of appearing similar
And yet have never met
Or seen
Nor ever will
Nor ever be the same.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Footprints on sand
What is the proof that you ever lived?
What is record of self?
What is confirmation of identity?
Passport? No. Insufficient.
Fingerprints? No. Mute.
You. Spirit. Spirit is evidence.
Speak your mind before you die.
Character. Be yourself.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Walk with me
Down quiet paths in the woods
Hold my hand
Tell me about yourself…
I’ll listen and give answers where I can
I’ll listen with my heart, the heart of an honest man…
I don’t want to take advantage of you
Everything that was good in you
When you were a child
I want it to come to the fore again
When you walk by my side…
And if somewhere along the way
We lie down in some secret grove
Then it’s just me and you, baby
Being human in a serious and happy way…
I want the child we have together
To be a reflection of the child in you and me
I want our old age, our life’s evening
To be again like childhood, in the beginning…
Look into my eyes as I look into yours
Let’s hide nothing from each other, let’s have nothing to hide…
Let our quiet walk in the woods
Last longer than our life on earth…
And if somewhere along the way
We are laid down in some secret grove
Then it’s just me and you, baby
Going up our path again together
Being human in a serious and happy way.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Years pass
And all you do
Is return to the same
Recognition –
All the searching and adventuring
And experiencing and reflecting
Have only taken you
In a circle back to the Recognition
You acquired
The first time you were good…
There’s really only one way of doing it aright
Morally…
And you’ll have to come back to it
One day.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
You are afraid of a flower
She smiled sadly at me
My bosom blossoms for you
My thorns, they prick, I know
But love hurts the lover
And love hurts the loved
And I’m dying, I’m dying for you
Lie down in my grave with me
Let’s be reborn together.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
No master gon’ willingly let a slave go
No oppressor gon’ willingly let the oppressed rise to his level
If you wan’ freedom, you gon’ take a blow!
The loss of property and means
The loss of power
The loss of status
Yea, the loss of status
Hurts like hell.
When you rise, it means that
Someone else is no longer higher
Than you and has to stomach that –
Remember that.
You gon’ pay a heavy price
Because everyone around you
Knows the value
Of self—elevation, knowledge and freedom
They will make you pay for it
If you’re really worth it.
The price of your freedom is their resistance.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 