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.
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
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.
A girl arose from bed one morning
And heard the alien call
Of a bird
From an alien country
She looked out of her window
Saw the bird
Hovering in the air, calling…
The girl became confused
For she could strangely understand the bird’s song
And yet knew not its meaning:
The first person to trust me
Is mine…
Sang the bird.
And then the girl’s brother shed his night-gown
And flew out to meet the calling bird – the bird
From an alien country…
And the girl watched them fly away
Two identical birds
To their alien country
The first one to trust me
Is mine.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
It is not a joke;
But everyone is laughing
As though it were…
Early in the morning
I can hear voices whispering
Before dawn…
But when I peered out through the window
I saw nothing
Yet heard something
Which sounded like whispering voices
Talking to me
Telling me what to write
And I write without complaint
Even though the pain is sometimes astronomical –
Yet I write.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I am another blackbird
I want to fly high up in the sky
Shy and bold
Freed and loved
Here and there and
Everywhere.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Look not too far
In search of what is gone
Because what was
Is what will be
In me is the fire and the power
The rock, the stone, the adamantium
Is inside the heart.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Windows are opening out of
And into my soul
Like trap-doors trapping out
And waterfalls falling down
And flowers flowering forever away
From night to day
And wailing winds unafraid of me
Of whom I am not afraid
And wishing pains and painful wishes
And undying longings and the longing for immortality
And this poem, like this strange year, is finished.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I saw a big spirit
Carrying a small body
Upright and light and taller
Than the giants that dwarfed her
I saw a strong spirit
Carrying a crippled body
Gracefully, effortlessly, healing
The minds that came his way.
Like the seasons that change
So every Body will go
But our natures will stay
And spirit, spirit will find a way
To break through the shell
And say Hello.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
If the door from the front opens not
Look back
I am behind you.
After the first poem I broke loose
The walls disappeared
The green branches outside the window
Became the staircase
Upon which I stepped out of
The broken chains
I look at you with eyes which
However hard you try
You cannot read…
You are looking for a Lie
In my eyes
Whereas you ought be looking
In there
For the Truth
I will not return.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
image: fanny4902/pixabay
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 