When I wait, I wait for you When I go, I go to you When I stand, I stand with you What are you? When I live, I live in you When I die, I die because of you When I work, I work for you Who are you? When I remember, I remember you When I dream, I dream of you When I long, I long for you When are you? Why are you so present? Why are you so absent? Why are you so prescient? Why are you? Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Adulation
WOMAN’S HEART
Women are usually emotionally far ahead of men. For brief moments, the men might overtake, but in the overall story, usually a woman’s heart knows more than a man’s heart, knows it earlier than the man’s heart, remembers more than the man’s heart does, and retains the memory for much much longer than a man’s heart ever could.
Without woman’s heart we would lose our memory of home and our understanding of homeliness. When a woman goes, the home goes. And when a woman comes, Home comes back. The heart of woman alone can dig a tunnel to hell or span Heimdall’s bridge to Heaven. And she does it quietly, right there beside you, where the half of them poison you and kill your spirit’s joy, and the other half of them heal you and make you deeply happy. With just a few words, and sometimes even without saying a word.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
THAT ONE
You can come as close to me as you want You still cannot get in. You can go as deep into me as you want But still deep within My heart there is a door And if you’re not the one it’s meant for You can’t get in. You can go as far away from me as possible You still remain inside me I can push you as far away from me as possible But still deep inside me There is one tender space And you alone live inside this place That is the home in me. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
INNER WARMTH
There is fire in your Heart Even though you keep quiet Or laugh loud to play your part When awkwardness is at its height It is a warm quiet resolute fire Burning subterraneously A nocturnal town-crier Subtle intensity Everybody in your vicinity Is warmed by you Without understanding completely Why they like being with you. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
VISITOR FROM HEAVEN
You were there I saw you even if many others did not You were there I saw you even if even my eyes did not You were there I saw you. I saw you in the swelling of my heart In the paths that my thoughts did chart I saw you, for they were thoughts of thee. Thoughts of all those things which Thou art The origin, the beginning, the head, the start I saw you in my sensing of eternity. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
HUMAN GUITAR
A window into another world you are Smaller than a moon you are a star Nearer than proximity you feel from afar Sealed to others my heart to you is ajar You’ve got a ticket I’ve got a fast car I am the wound you are the tender scar Strumming my pain fingering my guitar. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
BOYS TO MEN
The older I get,
The more I miss my father.
The more knowing I grow,
The more I miss him.
The more I know him.
The more I understand him.
We live life forwards,
But understand life backwards.
When it‘s too late to change anything,
That’s when we understand everything.
The young shall grow.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
(I just feel like remembering today)
YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL
Horrible to him
Wonderful to me
Ugly to day
Beautiful to night
I see with eyes
That see surprise
I hear with ears
That hear falling tears
I see the woman
Being human
I love the human
Being in the woman
I know your value
I know the worth
Of your old-fashioned Virtue
Pretty or not,
You’re beautiful.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
NOT MY EARTHLY, BUT MY HEAVENLY FATHER
What binds me to my earthly father is
Love, duty, gratitude, respect and admiration.
What binds me to my Heavenly Father is
Eternal life,
Eternal gratitude,
Eternal purpose,
Eternal faithfulness here and everywhere,
Now and forever.
Not my earthly – but my Heavenly – Father.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
THE RELIGION OF MUSIC
For a long time, decades,
I forgot about the power of music
I stopped believing that music can
Change the world.
It is easy to stop believing it
Because many people also do not really believe it
And so everywhere around you, people agree with you
In a gentle cynical sad way
But there is something greater than belief
It is Knowledge. Memory. New experiencing –
Conviction. Re-cognition. It comes upon you when music
Changes your world and brings you back to life
Inside you again –
This is what Music does to everything.
Then you become a believer again
And a disciple and a missionary of
The Religion of Music.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 