We have to become beautiful Inside and outside And stop roaming the earth full Of shame and pride Looking for a Paradise That is ours and ours alone to make - Until we arise At home, our success abroad is fake. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Liberation
FREEDOM CHANGES
Sometimes you win back your freedom
And it feels so strange
Because nothing, not even freedom,
Is free from change.
A free child, wild and uncouth,
Is not afraid to tell the truth –
A growing, blossoming and free youth
Is not afraid to hear the truth –
A free adult, grown full of ruth,
Is not afraid to protect the truth.
They are all free
All three
But they all see
Differently.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
THE GOD OF THE WILLING
We cannot use God to hide away from the world. Rather we should use God to engage with, decipher and overcome the world. Above all, the world within us. God is not for cowards or weaklings. God is for the brave, the bold, the adventurous, the determined, the open, those who are ready to use the earthlife for that for which it was granted to them: to experience, and to grow through this experiencing.
The form or the content of the experiencing is different for each person. For some it is a quiet thing they need to experience, for others it is a loud thing; for some it is a popular thing they must dare, for others it is an unpopular or even a seemingly inconsequential thing; for some it is a controversial thing, for others it is a safe and boring and therefore annoying and unbearable thing; for some it is personal love, for others it is objective love.
Everybody has those things that will call their heart deeply – and running to God will still not free you from them. There is no escape because it is inside you. God is not there to hide you from yourself or from your challenges. God is there to help you to deal with them. That is why HE granted you this earth life, because HE knows you will need every second of whatever length of time you earned for yourself in this current incarnation.
So, get to work! Go for it. Set off with the business of living by experiencing. God will help you if you are brave and honest.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
OVERCOMING
Not everyone who tries to kill you will succeed; Your heart might bleed and bleed and bleed and bleed But in the end you will find out you have simply been freed. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
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
PARALLEL UNIVERSES
When a person just doesn’t know how to tell you the truth, they simply stick to the lie. From start to finish. Even if they want to tell you the truth, they don’t know how to, they don’t know where to start because the truth runs on a completely different storyline and separate lifestyle, opposite reality and parallel universe. It will hurt you deeply and completely overturn your view of life and of them. Or so the person thinks. But if only they would try you, to see a new person emerge and a new powerful authentic relationship form.
Starting with a lie is always a slippery slope, a rollercoaster ride. It is nervousness and heart palpitations from start to finish. It can be exciting and exhilarating, until it becomes human and personal. Then it becomes a chore, a nightmare, a heavy load, and a puzzling sphinx, a difficult riddle to solve. Tell the truth and shatter the other person’s reality? Or maintain the lie and allow it to eat you inside and gnaw at the other person’s gut instincts, and prevent both of you from ever forming a true bond? And yet, only the truth liberates.
There will be a humanity one day of honest human spirits who live, share and relate in the light of truth always and in all things. Deeply and simply. Inside and out. Individually and as a society. The most fundamental truth we owe ourselves as human beings is the truth of how we really are as a person. This is the basis of all relationships and of society and of a possibility to one day have a reflection of Paradise on Earth. A home away from Home.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
QUIETLY
Is there any hope for me? Good Friday not so good. A deep slumber of mystery, A soul troubled to darkly brood, A distracted mind of matter, But knock knock, knock on wood, Who’s there to lovingly shatter My illusions? For truth is food. Wake me up before you go - Resurrection will upon crucifixion intrude: Resist injustice, rediscover my glow, Because, inside, I’m in a sunny mood. 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
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
BONDS
We belong to God, Not to one another. Possessiveness is flawed, No one owns the other. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 