THE TRAIN

The train is full of hopes
And full of broken hearts
Full of starts and stops
A moving story of many parts.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THE TRAIN WILL DEPART

The Train will depart
It will move
If you’re on it, you’ll leave the station behind
If you’re on the platform, it will leave you behind
But when the time comes the train will depart
And two people who’ve
Until that moment been together will part.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

LOVE LIKE THE SUN

Like the sun rises every morning
So love blossoms again in the heart
After the night of agony and mourning
The heart will ache to make a new start

It might be an unfinished story
Rising from the depth to try again
Or a new love emerging in all its glory
Making the heart forget all its past pain

The edges blur, the points blunt
The longing subsides, the tears dry
New edges sharpen up a new front
New wings unfold straining to fly

For the heart wants to love badly
Because love is the life of the soul
Love gladly or love sadly or love madly
Love alone makes the spirit whole.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

A NEW BEGINNING

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

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

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

MARCH TOWARDS APRIL

So many things ending in my life this month, as March ends. And so many things starting. Looking forward to April. Is my heart big enough to contain and bear it all? Yes, my heart is always big enough. And when it isn’t, it simply grows some more, grows again.

Aries, as ever, you end the old and bring the new. For me, to me, in me.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains