Perfection is for the cowardly Perfection is for the vain Perfection is for the insecure Afraid of the rugged terrain Perfection is for the talentless Unable to handle the unknown Perfection is for the clueless For the lazy follower, the drone Give me imperfection at dawn The origin of the day and the way Give me imperfection at dusk The source of tomorrow’s dream. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Change
DON’T WALK AWAY FROM THE PATH
DON‘T WALK AWAY FROM THE PATH
When I was young and I still had a choice
I woke one day and heard a woman’s voice (and she said)
My son don’t walk away from the path
Courageously face all that it hath (because it’s)
Easy to walk away from the right path (but then)
It’s never easy finding your way back
Don’t walk away, son…….
Years passed and I became a man
I did away with all my childish plans
I saw the world the way it really was
But I was too weak to fight off its paws
And the woman’s words went flat (in my mind)
And I shut my eyes and walked away from the path
I walked away, Lord…..
Now I am… – –
I am… – –
So… – –
So… ….. hee ha!
Now since that time I’ve been living along the ways of men
In all that time I haven’t made one single friend
I’ve lost the peace of mind that I used to know
I’ve gained the world but what happened to my little soul (little soul….)
(instr.)
My son don’t walk away from the path
Courageously face all that it hath (because it’s)
Easy to walk away from the right track (but then)
It’s never easy way finding your way back
It’s easy to lose the track
It’s never easy finding your way back (I say)
It’s never easy finding your way back (ohh)
It’s never easy finding…
It’s never easy finding hey….
Your…… way back…
And I’m so… lonely.
Music/Words: Che Chidi Chukwumerije
THE FORGOTTEN YOU
How could I forget you?
And forget that I forgot you?
Even this I forgot.
Forgot your face
Forget your eyes
Forgot your ways
Forgot our ties
Forgot the words we spoke in the night
Forgot the cadence of your voice’s delight
Forgot your touch, so deep, so light
I did not even remember you as a dream
You just were never there it would seem
Memory is a fast-flowing vanishing stream.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
INNER AND OUTER HEALTH
You switch between poor and rich But which is which? Your soul is a glitch. Wealth never made you rich It only made you a bitch Poverty never made you a witch It simply left you in a stitch Being poor and being rich Have both given you an itch Scratch the surface, it is a ditch Being poor and being rich Are two sides off the middle pitch Scratch the sides, run into a hitch Only Health is wealth, that’s the glitch. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
GOING SOLO
Once he doesn’t care anymore All the beauty in the world becomes a bore Every tender touch pinches a sore Promises of true love sound like folklore. He walks out forever through the door He totally overturns what he is living for When he has been wounded to the core Every woman now seems to him to be a whore. Fitting in with the act turns into a chore He rips off the mask which once he wore The mask his heartbreak from his heart tore And breaks away from the naive days of yore. An angel or a demon? Neither nor. Be yourself or die trying? Either or. Whatever else life may have in store He’ll carve his own way now to heaven’s shore. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
NEW EVERY MORNING
Every day, like a mother,
delivers a new version of me
No matter what binds me today,
tomorrow I will be free.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
WHAT DO YOI REALLY WANT?
Imagine if the only way God could save you
Was by letting you continue to search and to suffer –
Would you still continue to beg Him to save you?
Or would you ask the devil to make you an offer?
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
TAKE YOUR PAIN
Take your pain Don’t run from it Again and again Welcome it You will gain From the purge And after the rain A new you will emerge. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
EMERGING
The more my eyes fail
The better I see
The more my knees flail
The faster I flee
And the farther I go
I thought younger was stronger
But that was a long long time ago.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
EAGLE AT HEART
Sun-burnished
The sea slit
The morning lit up
Furnished my wit
The varnished mirror beneath me crawls
And over-yonder my sun it calls
Back tarnished memory bit by bit.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 