PRIDE AND PAIN

That Mountain yes
It is high, hard, rugged, dogged
And casts a long shadow

It will not stop you
From arriving the other side
Of your pride, when love touches you –

You say it, I’m sorry
It hurts but not for long
Pain heals. I’m sorry…

Those tears are more powerful
Than a waterfall, every barrier will break
In their wake, they will wash the air
Clean, like nature’s storm –

I’m sorry is a power that is a winner.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

WINNING HEART

Success is attractive. Only success.
Yet she found you attractive
For you alone were successful
At conquering her hardened heart

There are many walking wounds on earth
Many crusted souls aching for life
Think not that you are nothing
Simply because you never made it to that school
That job, that position, that wealth, that status…
It is also success to heal a human heart.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

INSTINCT

You have to go deep
To decipher the truth within
Deep enough to be unable
To come out again. Catch 22.

Then you will ask yourself
What use is the knowledge
If you cannot use it
To free yourself from the truth.

But humanity kicks in
The instinct for self-preservation
Some call it the third eye
The inner voice, the sixth sense.

Reason says go left
Yet your feet turn right
There is an inner road
That leads through the night.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

SONG IN THE FACE OF HATERS

Holding on to peace dream
While staring down
The barrel of a gun!

Staring down the gun!

The gun is trembling with fear
How many bullets are needed
To shoot down peace?

The gun bucks!
The clock stops!
Peace is my song.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

SUNRISE AT WORLD’S END

Wait, morning wind
Wait for my awakening
For I bring a sun

Today shall be another day
Of the same old depressing news
Of hatred, xenophobia, corruption and wars

If I didn’t have this sunlight
Rising daily in my soul
I would think the world were ending

Now my sun is risen
Now rise too, my morning wind
For the old world is ending.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

SILENCE WILL ROLL INTO SILENCE

Silence will roll into silence
When your heart, for miles,
Lonely, clothed in the essence
Of sorrow shed in every sense
But one…,
Arises before your countenance
And, despite sorrow, smiles –
Fresh Food for your sustenance,
Fresh impetus for the long distance
You run…

Do you hear the rolling silence?
If you listen and listen hard
To Silence, the deeper bard;
Just listen, listen in hard…
Do you hear the rolling silence?

Silence will roll into silence
When the pain in you
Has crossed the line into convalescence
And the Horizon’s in view.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

TURN AROUND

The past became a picture
Picture imperfect
Stop looking at it
Walk away…

The answers lie ahead, not behind
Happiness comes forward, not back
You walk into freedom when you turn
Around and walk away

Stop looking at it
It does not exist anymore…
Walk away.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

WHY WE SORROW, WHAT WE KNOW

Why we sorrow, what we know
No tomorrow, yet we sow
Because this night, because this night
Because this night
Will crack

Light, light, I see tomorrow
Through a crack so slight and mellow
There’s a tiny track

The pain, though great
Will end.
The rain, though late
The rain, though late
The rain, though late
Shall bend
Our way again, this I know
Though we sorrow, yet we know
We’ll smile again.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

BREAK AWAY

He who will change something
Must break something
Sang none other
Than the fragile little butterfly…
Wings to unwind a universe.

He who will change something
Must break something
Sang none other
Than the fragile little chicken
To the other struggling egg.

And my mother placed her burning palm
On my heart, asked me to stay…
It was balm, but he who will change
Something must break something
A generation away

Sometimes you just have to
Break away.
The hoe cracked the hearth
The sower smiled

Rebirth cracked the palm kernel of death
Death learned from rebirth
About the quest for a higher birth
The reaper smiled.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

THOUGHTS OF FREEDOM

Bottling up the thoughts
Will not get rid of them
Yet speaking them all too soon
Is folly…

In the depth of silence
Assuming silence to be a lake
There is a cave
Wherein it glows like
Happiness

Bury your thoughts quietly within this
Cave of silent happiness

And no matter how rough a storm it be
That rocks the lake…
When all is calm again
Your thoughts
Will emerge matured and multiplied
And urge you
Urge you to set them free…

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.