BELIEVE YOUR HEART

Believe your heart,
It does not lie;
Let it be your chart
and your Why -

Why you believe or disbelieve a story;
Why in all things you give God the glory;
Why you wake up and get up
And dress up and show up
Morning after morning after morning
Like the sun always returning every morning.
Why you remember the sun and look up
And drink renewal from the Grail Cup.

Follow your heart,
no matter where it may roam -
It is like a magic chart
that knows the way home.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

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

THE SMILES OF STRANGERS

The smiles of strangers along the way;
Eyes that touch with a friendly look briefly -
Just a few of these silent greetings a day
Change the feel of the city, lighten it greatly.
And they are there, just enough of humanity;
Partake in it, for life is rushing by so quickly.
Joy-givers are preservers of human dignity.
Every day is a gift. Use it wisely. Be happy.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

SHARE YOUR LIGHT

Sometimes it‘s just a word that’s missing
At the right time and everything goes wrong
Hurting sounds like hissing
Caring sounds like dissing
Whispering sounds like kissing
And confirms what you knew all along.

But someone will cross your path today
Who needs a smile
Someone crying for help will be in your way
For a little while
Just a word, a look, a smile, a friendly touch
Will help them another mile.

Share your night and your fright
Share your might and your right
Share your sight and your insight
And share your plight and your flight
Share your fight and your bite
Share your height - and share your light.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

IN YOUR HEART

The joy of the brand new day
The happiness that wants to play
The laughter in your heart
Even when outside the sky is grey

Don’t let anything take your joy away
Fight for your right to be happy everyday
Fight for the light in your heart
Happiness is the Paradise of Today

Night and day, November or May,
Laughter is the currency in which you pay
For the gift of life in your heart.
My morning thoughts on a happy Sunday.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

TRUST, BROKEN

Trust, broken.
Thoughts, woken.
Hurt, spoken.
Touch, token.

Unpreparable.
It comes from the one you don’t expect.
Unrepairable.
You’ll never again be able to not suspect.

Healing is an intellectual token
Once the trust has been broken.
Only the spirit can find a new rhyme
In its own way, in its own time.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

VANISHING

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

LOVE HURTS

If love hasn’t driven you mad
Then you’ve never felt love before
If love hasn’t made you unbearably sad
Then love has not yet pierced your core
If love hasn’t tested the line you had
Between the good and the bad
and fundamentally changed you forevermore,
Then yours isn’t love, just a lore.

And the most astounding part
Is the dull ache somewhere in your heart
and the cold ashes that remain
when you walk down memory lane.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

HUSH

The red rush
Autumn is on the thrush
Mush mush
And a flush of lush
You are more than a crush
- Hush.
I can’t brush you aside. 
I lied.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Poems from the inner river

PASSING RIFFS

Little moments of life
In the corners of strife
Little stripes of light
Hidden out of sight
Hope is a melody, a song
Where we all belong
Sing along, old and young.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river