Why don’t people take opportunities When they come? Most especially those opportunities That come from The heart and appeal to the sixth sense And, if grasped, lead us back to the essence Of the purpose of being human and fulfilled. A happiness, a love, heartfelt and God-willed. The best opportunities Don’t make us wealthy. The best opportunities Make us happy. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Emergence
A LITTLE HAPPY EVERYDAY
Sometimes you love someone, but the person loves someone else. Or the person simply prefers a lifestyle different from the one which a life with you would have to offer them. So they choose or go after someone else who, or another path that, can offer them that lifestyle.
Being that the aim, the very aim, of life itself is Happiness, this experience of rejection cuts to the very heart of the essence of existence. The hurt can kill the soul. It makes people reappraise themselves, question their worth and even find fault in their own fundamental character. Yet, while self-examination is healthy, so also are self-love, self-understanding and self-acceptance equally necessary.
When trapped in a spiral of self-abnegation in which one no longer recognises oneself, It then becomes imperative to awaken, within one’s consciousness, a new narrative of life and of self in order to find the path to a new source of joy, as a new person. To outgrow the self-image that traps one in a cycle of pain, perhaps even to shed certain traits, and to learn to see oneself, one’s path and one’s Why with fresh new eyes. To find a new understanding of the purpose of life.
This is where the concept of never giving up comes into play. Every morning when you wake up, strive for joy. Be prepared to let go of those thoughts and those beliefs that weigh you down debilitatingly. Be ready and able every day to try a new path, a new thought, until you find the exit – and then you can take flight again.
Life is a jigsaw puzzle. Many parts fit, but many parts don’t fit also. And you have to move the pieces about in your heart and in your life continuously, often, and courageously in order to slowly put your answers together.
And, as you stride on along this way, try… try to be a little happy every day. In the end, that’s all you have. That’s all we have to share with one another. That is our humanity.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
YOUR LADDER OF POEMS
A poem at a time Gradually I climb Out of my well of wishes Out of my well of clichés Out of my well of unbeing Into my wellbeing. Don’t let the machine write your mind Think for yourself or you’ll grow blind What you seek is what you’ll find - Moving on, don’t leave your true self behind. AI might be the future’s tool - But stay human and don’t be its fool. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
BE WHO YOU ARE
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
THOSE WHO SEE THROUGH YOU
Good liars are used To being believed So they get confused, Irritated, aggrieved, When they meet someone By whom their well-conceived Lies, deception and con Are not well-received; Someone who sees through them deeply, Like a radar, stubbornly and unerringly, And refuses to be bought by them cheaply, But demands the real them unsparingly. The real them, the higher You, The deeper fruit of your true history - Be brave with me, trust me, be true. Let that be our bond, and our mystery. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
GO YOUR WAY
Don‘t take everything
That comes your way
For the way has everything
The way will make you lose your way
If you believe everything
And take everything
That the way brings your way
Learn to look away
From the way
When the way
Is not going your way
Know the way
And know your way
And know the difference.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
REJECTION
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
DRAW YOUR SECOND BREATH
When I first came to Germany, I died, slowly and gradually. And - this is the worst part - I died alone, inside my heart. Some might say it is a death Akin to the planted seed That dissolves inside the earth En route to being freed; Freed from the past and the old - The path to growth into the new. But death is empty, dark, cold. And lonely. I never knew. There is a path that leads back to life; Beware - it is more painful than death And it too with loneliness is rife From which will emerge your second breath. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
FORGETTING AND FOCUSING
I dreamt that something did not arrive But think now as I may I cannot remember What it was in the night that didn’t arrive As though the memory I don’t remember Is itself what it was that did not arrive. Morning comes and I am alive Full of tomorrow’s energy and drive So I wonder what it was I forgot today I guess it must be yesterday. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 