A beautiful day, My heart opens in joy and gratitude And begins to pray: Thank You, Lord, for healing, for fortitude, For blessing my way With true friends and a heart of quietude, For sending Your Ray Of warmth into the depth of my solitude. Although I lost my woman I gained new friends and a reopened heart. With pain grows acumen; Life is a journey, Your Word is the Chart. It’s hard to be a true man But every new day is a good day to start. Daily You make me human, moulding through experiences my innermost part. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Hearts
BECOMING CIRCUMSPECT
A year passed by so quickly, like a whirlwind. The most important lesson I have learned: Value people who tell you the truth, for they are rare. Be sparing with your trust. And know that, unfortunately or fortunately, there is always something more to every story you hear. The exceptions to this rule are rare. So, become circumspect, even as you love harder. Because the harder you love, the deeper you go into the heart of truth and deception. The human heart is on earth to grow, and it grows only by intense and authentic experiencing of itself and of other hearts. So, open your heart to everything, but know this: “Everything” includes both the light and the dark, both the dependable and the treacherous, coming both from strangers as well as, even more so, from the people you trust.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
RECALIBRATED
When you‘ve lost What you love the most You have nothing more to lose. When what gives you strength Leaves you Then you have only yourself left to choose. And your God. And seriousness. No more half-bonds. Whatever stays must really be your crew’s. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
PARALLEL UNIVERSES
When a person just doesn’t know how to tell you the truth, they simply stick to the lie. From start to finish. Even if they want to tell you the truth, they don’t know how to, they don’t know where to start because the truth runs on a completely different storyline and separate lifestyle, opposite reality and parallel universe. It will hurt you deeply and completely overturn your view of life and of them. Or so the person thinks. But if only they would try you, to see a new person emerge and a new powerful authentic relationship form.
Starting with a lie is always a slippery slope, a rollercoaster ride. It is nervousness and heart palpitations from start to finish. It can be exciting and exhilarating, until it becomes human and personal. Then it becomes a chore, a nightmare, a heavy load, and a puzzling sphinx, a difficult riddle to solve. Tell the truth and shatter the other person’s reality? Or maintain the lie and allow it to eat you inside and gnaw at the other person’s gut instincts, and prevent both of you from ever forming a true bond? And yet, only the truth liberates.
There will be a humanity one day of honest human spirits who live, share and relate in the light of truth always and in all things. Deeply and simply. Inside and out. Individually and as a society. The most fundamental truth we owe ourselves as human beings is the truth of how we really are as a person. This is the basis of all relationships and of society and of a possibility to one day have a reflection of Paradise on Earth. A home away from Home.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
A NEW LIGHT
You appear, a new light, Hesitant yet persistent, Dimmed and yet bright; Curiously observant Because it feels so right. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
DEFLATION
It‘s a strange feeling when you stop caring; You look for it inside you, it’s no longer there. The heart grows cold and stops sharing, And lies overtake the spirit of truth or dare. It’s a strange feeling when you stop fearing To lose what you love the most to have near. What has freed you leaves you feeling empty; The answers are few, the questions are plenty; But the urge to know has suddenly died recently. - Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
LOVE HARDER, LOVE INTENSELY
When we have been hurt once, we make the mistake of shielding our hearts from loving again or loving too deeply the next time. This is very wrong. This is allowing the darkness to win against the light. The right thing to do is the opposite. Love hard, hurt hard, stand up, heal, fall hard again and love even harder. Next time, love HARDER. The only thing that can heal a broken heart is complete re-immersion into the intensity of love. Only intense love can dispel the spectre of the fear of love. Because it touches the core of the spirit and makes it know it is alive.
The nature of intense love is that, if your heart gets broken, it takes a long time to fall out of it and to heal, once you have given your heart and your trust and your openness to someone. Depth does not permit superficiality. Intensity does not permit an easy withdrawal or a quick transition. If you love hard, moving on will be very hard. But once you’re gone, looking back or coming back will also be very hard, because you are also going to fall hard into the next one. True love is intense, because only intensity is satisfying and fulfilling. Intensity is an addictive drug.
And nothing is more intense than the intimacy of shared truthfulness. Not even sex is an intimate as the sharing of truth and trust. A person who cannot share their truth with you, or who you cannot share your truth with, is inwardly distant from you. You will never have an intense intimate relationship with this person. The bond with this person will not be deep and satisfying. The pains will not be deep, neither will the joys. Moving on for or from such a person will be quick and easy. But your emptiness will not be filled.
If you want your emptiness to be filled, you have to have the courage to open your heart and fall fully, give yourself fully, share deeply and honestly, and love hard. Love HARDER. It comes with the risk and certainty of pain, but also of the deepest joy and satisfaction possible. And, above all, it is one of the only few things on earth that can really change a human spirit and help it to mature and develop. Because it touches your core and makes you even more alive.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
IT IS WHY WE LIVE
It doesn’t matter who broke your heart Or how badly they broke it. It doesn’t matter how much it hurt. When the new one comes, Love again. And love HARDER. Once you set off, don’t look back. Pain is not and is never our master. Joy and love lie always ahead - Fall forward. It is why we live With the fullness of our heart always to give. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
I WISH YOU WELL
Though you hurt me I wish you well I pray that true love Lift you where you fell I pray that God’s Light Illuminates your heart I pray that good things Line up your travel chart And may it be well with you In everything that you do. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
TIME WILL TELL
Time is such a strange thing. We always forget how long it is. One day you will change and you will look back and ask yourself Why. Why did I do that? Why did I not do that? Why did I say that? Why did I not say that? Why. Was it really worth it?
If it was, you will know and you will be happy. If it wasn’t, you will know and you will be sad.
But only time will tell you what your heart is still too blind or too stubborn or too immature to see today.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 