Every flight is a flight of fantasy Every journey is a journey of discovery Every departure is a departure from routine Every arrival is an arrival somewhere in between Every stranger is of a stranger kind Every meeting is a meeting of minds Every parting is a parting of the Red Sea Every greeting is… Wait! Greetings. The greetings Are the closest we’ll come to most humans. Put into them the earnestness of meetings - They are often our sole communions. With eyes, with words, with gestures, With a handshake or an embrace - Greetings in all their textures Help us to feel our human race. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Journeying
GO YOUR WAY
Don‘t take everything
That comes your way
For the way has everything
The way will make you lose your way
If you believe everything
And take everything
That the way brings your way
Learn to look away
From the way
When the way
Is not going your way
Know the way
And know your way
And know the difference.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
HELP COMES
Things that long seemed impossible Manifest suddenly just before the window Of opportunity closes. Many a miracle Is undramatic, almost mundane, a narrow Dirt track fit for walking or at best a bicycle running beside a highway leading to hollow Shallow goals for the spiritually superficial And there right next to it, quiet and mellow This simple path opens up with no noticeable Features except this: it is your heart’s echo Returning long after you sent an inaudible Piercing cry for help. Swing chariot, swing low, Swooping down out of the blue Inconceivable And carrying me home to a better tomorrow. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
PAIN YIELDS GAIN
Bearing pain Is like rearing Gain - You tend it patiently ‘Til it yields fruits abundantly And then you plant again. It’s a circle of pain The farmer breaks the ground to plant the seed The seed breaks its shell to yield the feed Our teeth crush the feed to tend our need Our need disciplines itself not to turn into greed So that we still retain enough feed To sow again. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
NEITHER HERE NOR THERE
Those that live in foreign lands But never really left their home Whose hearts never cup the sands Upon which their reluctant feet roam And the prints made where each boot stands Will be washed away by the evening foam Of a suspicious tide that never understands The ripened fruits of an alien-like biome - - Ye shall go back home with empty hands To a strange land that is no longer home. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
TIME MATTERS
If there were no time There would be no pleasure For there would be no experiencing, No piling up of inner treasure, No maturing, no developing, No struggle against which to measure Growth, delicious, ever unfolding, For eternity gained is the time spent. If there were no time, If Everything happened in one moment, There would be no rhyme. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
MORNING YEARNINGS
Good morning, true Morning, Child of a Blue Night Spent on an Island of Dawning By a bright Dream light. Invisible sun, I feel you coming, Son of a celestial Height Full of a gazillion suns roaming Beyond earthly sight. I saw you in my dream last night My heart awakened and took flight Driven by longing for a land of light That called me, filled me, with delight Good morning, new Morning, Born of gentle Might, Let the world be gripped by Yearning… Let there be Light! Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
MUSIC MADE ME
Music made me sad Sadness made me glad Gladness made me bad Badness made me mad Madness made me make music Music made me sad Sadness made me glad Gladness made me bad Badness made me mad Madness made me make music Music… Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
JUST KEEP MOVING
The shadows were short
But not for long –
Rest a little, but don’t abort,
And then move along –
The sunrays that once hurt
Will soften into bird song.
You can be sometimes weak
You can be sometimes wrong
You can be sometimes meek
When you’re strong.
Whether you’re old or young
Whether you’re normal or a freak,
Just be strong
And keep on moving on
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
FORGETTING AND FOCUSING
I dreamt that something did not arrive But think now as I may I cannot remember What it was in the night that didn’t arrive As though the memory I don’t remember Is itself what it was that did not arrive. Morning comes and I am alive Full of tomorrow’s energy and drive So I wonder what it was I forgot today I guess it must be yesterday. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 