New things start When you’re not looking Old things end When you’re not looking New things start When you’re not looking In Creation’s kitchen There is always something cooking. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Emergence
DAY’S START
A peace of mind and a peace of heart - The path outlined on the inner chart - Ready to make of love life’s highest art - A peace of mind and a piece of your heart - This is how the day should start. You of me, I of you, a part - Nothing and no one can tear us apart. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
ADJUSTING
You overcome the pain By becoming one with it. You lighten the rain By learning to dance in it. You conquer rejection By accepting it. You unburden affection By confessing it. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
EMOTIONAL FREEDOM
God is teaching me to not be emotionally dependent on any human being on Earth; to have nobody of whom I think or feel that I cannot live without this person. It’s a painful process, but to everybody who has rejected or is rejecting me, I say Thank you. Whatever your intention was, God has made something greater out of it.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
NEVER STOP
Don’t be ashamed and don’t be afraid
To follow your heart and go for your love;
Rejection can shatter the plans best laid –
The important thing is that your heart did move
And you moved outwardly along with this inner motion,
For movement is the spirit’s most important need –
It will climb every mountain and cross every ocean
Until it has itself from all its shackles freed.
The soul will always love something or someone,
And this love will make it laugh and make it bleed
And make it outgrow itself and never be done,
Following the path Home wherever it may lead.
Some chapters end in joy, and some end in sorrow,
But neither of these can hold the spirit down forever –
An inner restlessness will grip it again tomorrow;
Until it gets back Home, it will never stop. Never.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
THE INNER STREET
The people on the street The street on the people Weighing them down… The people in the street The street in the people Lifting them up… What we push down Will one day rise back up. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
FOCUS ON THE ESSENTIAL
It‘s okay to lose people as long as You don’t lose yourself in the process No matter how tempting. It’s okay to gain people as long as You also gain yourself in the process Inspite of how tempting it is to push aside your spiritual development in order to chase after someone who has gone outside or to adjust to and enjoy someone who has come inside. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
THE HURTING LOVE
The Love of God Will hurt you - Make no mistake about that - In order to cure you. Are you ready to grow? To reap what you sow? To be polished until you glow? To go with the flow Wherever God’s wind may blow? Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
FINDING VALUE
Separate yourself from things In order to know the value of things Go deep into things In order to learn the true value in things Separate yourself from people In order to know the value of people Come close to, go deep into, people In order to see the true value in people Metamorphose away from yourself In order to know the value of yourself Develop again into your true self In order to feel the value in being yourself. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
SNIPPETS
Hard words are sometimes the kindest Foraging eyes are sometimes the blindest Life’s help is sometimes to put you to the test It pushes you to move when you long to rest I’ve never wanted something so badly before I’ve never eaten to my fill and still wanted some more I’ve never said goodbye and continued to feel so sore I’ve never been so trapped before in a folklore So many new things starting at the same time Be patient when you’re looking for the right rhyme Little doses of salt and pepper, curry and thyme Life is sometimes a little sugar, sometimes a little lime I love like Haily’s comet, ever and again I come again Laughter fills my heart again and conquers the pain I can’t explain it, I am a lake and I am the rain And so are you, and every end is just another refrain. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
