It‘s quiet inside Grown silent in a heart Of memories rich in restraint A talking drum a world apart It takes a village to raise a child It takes a community to heal an inner child And silence in a quiet place in your heart. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Maturing
DIFFERENT KINDS
There are different kinds of friends
They connect in different ways
There are different kinds of bends
They connect with different ways
There are different kinds of trends
They connect into different ways
There are different kinds of ends
They disconnect and you go different ways
And then they connect you to different ways.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
DIFFERENTLY YOU
If you are different
No matter how diffident
You try to be
They will still see
That you are different.
So, do you
And be true
All the way through
Their mean or funny looks –
A dose of courage is all it takes.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
ME
I will try
to be me
And trying
to be me
Is a part
of being me.
And in trying
to be me
I have already
become me.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
COME INTO THE LIGHT
Come into the light Here where Home is bright Let us exchange insight With the same intensity With which we sometimes fight Let Honesty be our Propensity At the very Height Of our Intimacy It will feel right, it will feel so right Without a shred of complacency. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
THE OPPOSITE
When they pull the ground out From under your feet, Grow wings and learn to fly. When they hurt you, They make you stronger, Growing younger and younger Everyday until you die. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
PRIZE
People who try to bring you down Will see you rise - Their thorns will turn into your crown, That’s your prize. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
UNFRIENDING
A friend
Is a person who your heart trusts
With or without a reason understandable to your mind.
And when your heart then distrusts
There is also a reason why
But sometimes only the intuition knows it at first
If the friend has told a deep lie
And then the truth and the lie
Begin to grow side by side beside each other
And the matured truth shall say to the matured lie
How strange, how hard to believe,
That you and I once thought we were friends.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
HOMEWORK
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
I WANT TO GROW
I want to grow
I want to know
What’s outside the window
Of my sorrow
I want to go
Where pain cannot follow
Too deep to flow
Too far for tomorrow
The incredible today Show
Thousandfold ecstasy and woe
Changes me into what I need to know
Ahead of tomorrow.
Many more miles to go
The first step is to sow
Hope, sow Joy, sow kindness despite sorrow
Growth is a stream, gently row.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 