Of Inner States

AUTHORITY WITHIN

~ Che ~ 4 Comments

There is a poet
He lives in me
I am his host and his prisoner –

He is not married to my wife
He is not related to my family members
He does not come from my country
He does not work for my employer
He is a recluse
A hermit
Who lurks sometimes seen sometimes unseen
In the waters within my heart
I heard his name
They called him Spirit.

He looks at me
With his burning eyes
Only when he has something to say
Then, calling my name, he commands:
“Pen, write…”
And I write.
And that’s all I know about him.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

MEMORYLESS

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

I forgot
I know not what
Because I forgot

And so I wander
And I wonder
Trying to remember.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

EMPTY

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

It’s one of those wordless nights
When your lover isn’t talking to you
Or you’re not listening – one of the two

Who is thine love? She may be Nature
She may be Poetry, may be a thought hard to grasp
Or a human heart you suddenly can no longer decipher

She may be your path to destiny.
It’s one of those nights when I’m staring
At the TV and not seeing it, staring
At my phone and chatting with no-one, staring
At my saxophone and not playing it, staring
At empty paper and not writing anything.

Yet I’m full.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE HEART WILL GROW

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

When, blinding,
The sun’s rays, binding,
The sun’s gaze, finding its way
Through a window, minding
Your business for you, a dazzling hello
Like a friend’s caring
Like a friend’s sharing a heart
You shut tight your eyes tight
A moment –

When love won’t wane, won’t dim, won’t fall
When all you get is love, love, love
You bite back the tears of incomprehension
And open wide your soul –
What your eyes can’t bear, the heart can hold
The heart will grow, the heart will grow!

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE FIRE WITHIN

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Life
The bud struggling with itself
Longing to burst into flower
And sacrifice herself to the light

Nations locked in inner turmoil
Searching for the other half
Of the yellow sun

People thirsting for freedom

And then a Cadillac rolls past
A homeless person under the bridge
Their eyes meet in shock of recognition
They are the same

Or soon will be.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE SPIRIT THAT AWAKENED IN THE WOODS, HILLS AND LAKES

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

View over Lake Grasmere from the Woods

What has been the point of all that toil?
City’s prisoner, corporate spoil
A long line of sleeping, not being alive
Continuous weeping
Waiting for the day I’ll be reaping
That, after which I strive.

My heart has been leaping, trying to see the sun
Beeping, calling for the sun
Until my heart was full to the point of bursting
Full of longing
Blossoming of a full sense of belonging
Deep has been my thirsting –

This holiday, like a holy stay, in Gras- and Windermere
What have you done to me? Suddenly so clear
The poet in me again, ready to go his way
To be confronted
By all the effects of a life he’s always wanted
Work is as play.

There is no alternative to being who you should be
No wealth, comfort, security will make you happy truly
Nothing can compensate a spirit for a wasted life
A deep sense of guilt
At death, crumbling, the empty life that was built
Has not soothed the inner strife.

Boldly go your way, seek no reward, Bravery
Must be your natural part, unaffected, unwavering –
No poet ever wrote for money who served Inspiration
The path is the goal
The burning of the Spirit Flame deep within the Soul
Unpoisoned by Ovation.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
amazon cover copy cumbrian lines 2015

FINDING STRENGTH FROM INVISIBLE PLACES

~ Che

No one to talk to,
And no one to tell that to.

Drawing strength
From invisible places
Everyday.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

CHERISHED ALWAYS

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

I know you’re waiting for me to come
You know I’m waiting for you to become –
How long?

An upturned Calabash hides something
A broken mirror is still a mirror
A song unsung – is it a song?
A loveless soul – is it a soul?
When lovers part, are they still lovers?
Have they learnt how to love
Or forgotten how to love a little?
Upsidedownworld.
Turn it upsideupanddownsidedown
But leave the middle in the middle.

The world grows quiet quietly
A lone car passes now and then
A dog barks gently, night falls lightly
And the studio condenses around me again.

Who was I thinking of just now?
Where was I before evening called me back?
A heart is a thousand stories
And forgotten memories.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

ODE TO QUIETNESS

~ Che ~ 3 Comments

Good morning, Quietness,
I remember how with surprise
I felt your absence last night.
And did I thirst for you? First I thrashed about wildly,
Clutching at every suggestion of you,

Then, exhausted, like a leopard I crouched, still,
And lay in wait for you – awake, listening,
Until the morning came… My life rolled before my inner eyes,
Awakening you from the depths of my heart –
Good morning, Quietness, as I fall asleep at last.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVER

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

image by PublicDomainImages

Our hearts are broken in our youths,
The pain is deep and deeply buried
Beneath our adult ways and fashioned truths;
First love and first death never are forgotten…
First hopes and first dreams, of our young hearts begotten,
Within our innermost souls are ever carried.

Our hearts are shaken in our youths,
Our melodies tempered, our vision stirred…
Amidst all in the world that hurts or soothes
We sometimes slip back again into old times
And see young smiles and remember dead rhymes –
Our backward glance is never completely impaired.

Our hearts are made and formed yesterday,
And today we continue to actualise
The longing that awakened with the early morning ray…
And though yesterday is all done and gone away,
Yet we have it with us always in our hearts everyday
As we boldly heavenwards continue to strive and rise.

Yes, our hearts are awakened in our youths,
And who or what can stop a heart?
It wants to grow; like a stem it shoots
Towards light and life, towards stimulation –
And we shall make it, through trial, tribulation
And whateverelse it be that ever be on our chart!

Forever, forever, the candle is flaming…
And laughing and rising and working, remaining the same.

Our hearts are strengthened in our youths,
If we truly choose to live!
Yesterday, today and forever are booths –
We exit one and enter the next;
And hope and promise shall always be our text,
Yes, Father Above, and our gratitude to THEE we give!

Our hearts are born wild, live wild; until the taming
Gives us depth, dimension and the truth behind our naming.

Yesterday, today and forever…
Alive today, dead never –
We flower forever.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

 

Image by PublicDomainImages