Don’t come back after I’ve got used to your absence
Your absence has become your strongest presence
If you return too late you’ll only find yourself gone
Replaced by memory, you’ll be the invisible one.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
It does not matter who your father is,
Or was. It only matters who you are;
Throw off the reputational burden of his
Life, whether a nobody, a crook or a star.
It does not matter who your mother is,
Was, or will be. You have your own destiny.
Be firm in rejecting her spirit’s liabilities,
Nor bask in her glory. Write your own story.
Never ever allow family to be your bondage.
If wealth is not health, detach and go higher.
The chains of name, blood, and heritage
Are human assumptions, not God’s desire.
God wants each unique creature to be true,
So experience and enrich the world as You.
Free your children too from the Obligation to
Follow, serve, help, complete or redeem you.
If your story happens to be your family’s too,
Then so be it, that’s who you genuinely are.
But if your story is totally different and new,
Don’t feel guilty; accept and be who you are.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
You fight by being yourself You lose by losing yourself You win by remaining yourself Improving yourself, perfecting yourself As yourself Your deepest and highest and purest self. When you‘re not good enough for someone Don’t respond by becoming someone else Stay quietly yourself, your authentic self - When you’re too good to be true in someone’s view Don’t adjust and lower yourself to their comfort level Stay proudly yourself, your honest self - Just strive to be the best version of yourself. You can only attract those in tune with yourself When you show yourself - And if they are few and far between It’s still worth is. The loneliness is mean Crushing and worse when you’re not yourself. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
When people reject you They don’t realise they’ve done you a favour; You can move on from the rejected you And metamorphose into a higher nature. Had they accepted you You would have remained the old creature In that lower state unaware that you Could have activated this new extra feature That has deepened, strengthened, elevated you. Rejection is ejection into motion, An injection of self-reflection Towards redemption and transformation. An injunction to move, and motivation To self-improve in a new direction With grit, with purpose, and with intention. On the path towards self-realisation and self-actualisation, every new rejection Is another tiny course-correction. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Those that live in foreign lands But never really left their home Whose hearts never cup the sands Upon which their reluctant feet roam And the prints made where each boot stands Will be washed away by the evening foam Of a suspicious tide that never understands The ripened fruits of an alien-like biome - - Ye shall go back home with empty hands To a strange land that is no longer home. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Be ready to forgive insults Even before they come Knowing they will come From children and adults Who are a part of your way For this too is a part of the way You must travel to get results. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
I don’t like to get too near to people Because it pushes me far away from them; When you get really close to the moon, You see a gloomy rock, not a glowing gem. Yet, courage!, wanderer, be bold of heart! One who will find must seek everywhere, Must brave the ugly to discover deep beauty At the core of the things we love and fear. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
You cannot grow back a flower that’s dead You cannot stick back leaves already shed My mind has heard, my heart has bled You cannot take back the things you said. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
To be half in Is the worst thing A Person can be in your life Because to be half in Means to be half out An embodiment of doubt And a source of doubt therefore A distraction, and what is more: A source of inner strife To be half in is worse Than to be completely outside It depletes your life force And the peace you need inside. It does not respect, it does not value It does not grasp, need you or know you Enough to come fully through your gates So, remove all half-committed distractions They are emotional drags and weights They are psychological restrictions Though it hurts to lose them, each half gem, It hurts even more and harms you to keep them. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 