I saw hope, lost
On the hills, amnesiac
And she was
Looking for hope.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Of Alienation
LOOK AGAIN
And then you will see
That blind people see
The things that are invisible
To you and to me
And then you will hear
What the deaf loudly hear
When silence is all
That you and I hear
And then you will understand
That children understand
To store deep in their memory
Things they don’t yet understand
When a moment full of pain
Opens up your heart again
And you learn to look again
And see again, and hear again.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
EXCEPT YE AS LITTLE CHILDREN BE
Children are united
By childhood
Adults divided
By their adulthood
Too smart is the mind
That sees division
The spirit is inclined
To strive for union.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
YOUR FORGIVENESS SMILE
That moment
When the bitterness
Isn’t bitter enough to sour
Your forgiveness smile
And yet sad is the smile.
How friends fall away like unmasked leaves
Unable to bear the weight of trust
In all its lightness
Treachery by politeness.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
THE PRICE OF CATCHING UP
They promise you it’s great, the key
So you leave your home
And wander there
Where you acquire great knowledge
Which you will store in the emptiness
Of your soul –
For, nothing else can fill you up anymore
Stranger everywhere you go now
Home and abroad.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
LOST
You don’t know
How it feels
To feel abandoned
Disoriented, homeless
Unprotected and lost
Do you?
It’s the worst thing
That can happen to
A child, a youth in
The making, a heart
In the breaking, an
Adult early forsaken.
It follows you
All your life
Like a boat sailing
And sailing and sailing
Looking, for land
To go ashore, never-finding
Sometimes I see
A pair of eyes
And I know that
You too were abandoned
And have never found
Your way back home again
The world is full of
Loneliness and stories
Half-written…
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
QUIETNESS NAY SILENCE
Quietness nay silence
Like a virginal victim of violence
Was broken by a passing train in the night
Lonely and out of sight.
I won’t go near the window
Why reopen sorrow?
Let it pass by like a train in the distance
Heralding a second chance.
Night breathes, asleep
Silence sinks into ethereal deep
None shall stir until the dawn doth break
Only I – why am I still awake?
If I were clairvoyant, I would swear
There is somebody with me here
In that quiet hour when night is day
Spirits come out to play.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 