The greatest strength
is the strength to look beyond
your own strength
and find in your weakness
strength in other people’s strength.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
#poemsthatmakeyouthink
Of human beings
LISTEN
Always hear the unsaid when people talk;
Perceive the noise in the silence.
See the hidden stumble in their walk;
Read the unwritten hope for peace
Even in their threats of violence.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
GET USED TO BLACK
Black is not a fad, and not a trend –
It was here first & it is here to stay ‘til the end.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
BOYS TO MEN
The older I get,
The more I miss my father.
The more knowing I grow,
The more I miss him.
The more I know him.
The more I understand him.
We live life forwards,
But understand life backwards.
When it‘s too late to change anything,
That’s when we understand everything.
The young shall grow.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
(I just feel like remembering today)
ONE DAY IT’LL BE TOO LATE
If you’re mad and you know you’re mad
Are you mad?
If you’re sad and you know you’re sad
Why don’t you smile?
If you’re bad and you know you’re bad
Then you know what’s good –
If you’re glad and you know you’re glad
Share it and make someone else smile.
Life is going by so quick
Not just the individual life of you and me
Sometimes one has this strange feeling
That humankind itself also
Won’t be here forever
Our species too will die out
Inspite – or because – of all our great knowledge.
One by one, we will bury each other
And after the last sister has buried her last brother
Her final prayer before she too quietly departs
Will be that God forgive all our human hearts
For not understanding on time
That only Love furnishes the perfect last rhyme.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
HUMAN HEART
Santa and Satan are spelled with the same letters.
I just noticed it, please don’t crucify me.
Just know there’s a thin line between the two.
Sometimes when you think you’re looking out through a window, you’re actually looking at a mirror.
Saw this picture and liked it.
Something is buried in your heart and it could be anything. It’s probably everything.
Some pains will stay forever – well, probably not forever. Until you change and forgive and let go. Or until you die, I mean really die. Even when you forget, still you feel the pain and don’t know why. And then you remember – but you still don’t know why you took that first wrong step into the future.
But when you look at the serpent well, sometimes it seems as if it’s rising up to strike or writhing in treachery and deception. And sometimes it feels as if it’s begging for help and crying for forgiveness and looking for redemption. But some unsuspecting fool will pass by and think they’re looking at a heart. But you know better. You know you’re looking at a warning.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
THE FRIEND SHIP
It‘s strange how what we call deep Love ends so quickly, and what we call just Friendship lasts and lasts and lasts.
It‘s funny how love affairs come and go, but Friendships remain and grow.
It‘s interesting how the things that touch the body can become uninteresting tomorrow, but the things that focus only on the spirit will always understand you and always be there.
Many people are more loyal to their friends than to their partners. Ever wondered why?
Many people are more open to their friends than to their partners. It causes some people pain, and yet some will defend it with their lives.
Many people feel misunderstood by their partners, but are deeply understood by their friends – and often wonder why they cannot find both in one.
Friendship is a treasure, a gift, a blessing, a wonderful wonderful bond. Treasure your friends, for you will have only few. And if you have a partner, may he or she be one of them.
When all else is dead and dark, and all hope is gone, true Friendship will show you the way back Home to Paradise.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
ALL WE SEE IS THE OUTSIDE
They say I was born rich
So nobody nobody nobody
Wipes my tears when I weep
Not my rich father
Nor my poor mother
Not my sister, not my brother
Not my society or any other
Only my own hands
Only my own hands
Gonna wipe my own tears
I’ve learnt my lesson
Gonna be my own person
Lordy, I’m gonna be my own person
They say I was born gifted
So nobody nobody nobody
Feeds me when I’m down and hungry
Not my father who doesn’t understand me
Nor my mother who overrates me
Not my sister, not my brother though they love me
But they’ll never never know me
If you want to know humanity
Look down when you’re up
And look up when you’re down
And pray
To never get caught in the middle
The middle pays for the poor’s pains
And the rich’s gains
And goes to bed empty-handed on an empty stomach
Hungry for work that really pays the needed holidays
I’ve learnt my lesson
Lordy, I’m gonna be my own person.
They say I was born poor
So I have no right to share in the fruits of others’ labour
I should use my own gifts
And I should be grateful for every little favor
Favour is the taste of their flavour
But a drowning man’s got no choice
Truth and irony – they are my voice
That’s why nobody understands us.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
THE HEART OF HUMANITY
With love we should call our children
So that with love they will come –
With love we should welcome our children
So that with love they will glow –
With love we should rear our children
So that with love they will grow –
With love we should release our children
So that with love they will go forth
And repeat the same process
With love –
Love is the only thing that makes us human –
Love is the most fundamental thing
That we should transfer from generation to generation
Through mankind –
Love is the progenitor, propagator and preserver
Of the HUMAN race –
Without love we are nothing.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
MATURE MUSIC
Sorrow made you Dance
Laughter too
Worry made your heart beat
So did Love
Even Anger, even Hatred, and Fear
Made you move, you danced along
To Surprise, Curiousity, Longing for more
The Loneliness Shuffle, Regret backslides
Even Forgiveness has an ironic Twist to it
Because who really forgets?
Life the musician is not superficial
Live Music not artificial
Life makes Mature Music for
Old and Young maturing Spirits.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 