Did you know that Smiling makes you happy When you’re feeling crappy? Did you know that? I bet you’re smiling now. And if you were feeling crappy, Now you’re feeling a little happy - I bet you’re smiling now. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Joy and Happiness
THE DAY THE LAUGHTER CAME AGAIN
The day the laughter came again I stood in shock and stared at it in awe Like a stranger from a distant terrain For I had forgotten to a tragic flaw How laughter sounds and makes you feel. It felt so good it made me want to cry; The power of laughter and joy is real - A heart that laughs purely will never die. The day the laughter came again I was at the lowest ebb of my life, My soul wracked every day by pain, Torn by questions and unresolved strife, I woke up that morning and prayed to God, then set out to bravely meet the day And as I, work-focused, did onward plod, Laughter came to me again along my way. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
LOVE AND PAIN
Why is there so much hurt in this world? Why is it hard for people to join hearts without causing each other pain? Why is pain an unavoidable component of love and of togetherness? Is the human spirit really incapable of honest, pure, harmonious, mature love?
The people that love you are the people you will hurt, and they are the people that will hurt you the deepest and the most. And yet you cannot stop loving and you cannot stop loving them. Nor they you.
Who has ever found happiness on earth without it being laced with anguish and spiked with periodic doses of lacerating pain? If you haven’t found this, then you’ve never felt love yet. Because you can never find the love without the pain.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
YEAR OF ACHING
What a difference a year can make Depending on the path you take The pillars you shake The bonds you break The demons or the angels you wake And the thirsts you slake. For whose or for what’s sake? For something real or for something fake? Some say the heart is a lake Beneath its surface there swims a snake Your happiness is at stake And yet all you seem to do is ache and ache. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
PARTY TIME
Close the chapter and move on - Life is a party. Put your dancing shoes on And just groove on Be the life of your own party. Many invited guests will fail to show up Don’t worry, the show will still go on Many uninvited guests will crash the party And light the show up Your life is your party and it’s never done Dance on, move on, groove on. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
ONCE YOU TASTE TRUE LOVE
Once you taste true love Lust becomes a mechanical chore Pleasure is no longer enough You want something more. You learn to recognise the grain And separate it from the chaff - You want to feel that joy again You want your heart to laugh. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
YOU
No one else but you - Is this magic? Is this juju? There is value in virtue More powerful than voodoo. No one else but you I just had to woo you And once I sort of knew you I just had to do you. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
THE SEARCH FOE HAPPINESS
There is a pursuit on which we all are, a selfish or simply a personal pursuit; the pursuit of happiness. Everybody who connects with you does so in the course of their own pursuit of happiness. Once they become convinced that they cannot find happiness with you or through you, they will leave you. Don’t take it personal. Because you are also on a similar journey in your own life and in your own path.
Everything you do, everything you hope for, everybody you relate with, it is – finally – with the desire and with the expectation that you will find happiness there. Happiness is our paradise, it is our goal, it is what we all seek. The balance is to be able to find happiness without negatively impacting your physical or ethereal environment, and without unfairly and unjustly diminishing another person’s happiness as the price of yours.
But, somehow, you will still sometimes make others unhappy just to make yourself happy. It is unavoidable. And Vice versa. Because we are imperfect maturing developing beings. When they leave you, leave them too and move on, in the pursuit of your own happiness. If you seek, one day you shall find. In this life or in another, if you continue to seek happiness with a good heart and a pure mind, one day you shall happiness truly and deeply find.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
TREASURE IT
When someone loves you Really loves you Treasure it above due It is worth much more than you know Lack of love is poverty too Lack of joy and companionship too - Treasure love above due It is worth much more than you know. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
EVERYONE CAN BE HAPPY
There is somebody that loves you genuinely; May you find that person - And may you also love that person genuinely. But if you don’t find or love that person, Still may you find happiness in life. Not everyone finds a husband or a wife, But everyone can be happy genuinely. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 