No matter How many times I get used, I still can never get used To getting used. No matter how often Fake people take a liking To me, I never take a liking To their liking. No matter How often I be in love, I will never fall in love While standing in love. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Of Maturing
NO HOME AWAY
I walk through the valley of pain on my own
By the time friends come I’m already gone
I am All the colours between black and brown
Call me Africa or call me Diaspora, a birded song
Fly without perching, there’s no home away from home.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
LIKE A FLOWER THINKS OF THE SUN
Think of forgiveness Like a flower thinks of the sun With gratitude nonetheless For a story time once upon For pain is the power to bless Forevermore for if ever done Let anguish be my shorn redress Torn away, for Done! is foregone Revenge and mercy both make a mess But mercy makes the earthier one. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
TAKE YOUR PAIN
Take your pain Don’t run from it Again and again Welcome it You will gain From the purge And after the rain A new you will emerge. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
EMERGING
The more my eyes fail
The better I see
The more my knees flail
The faster I flee
And the farther I go
I thought younger was stronger
But that was a long long time ago.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
EAGLE AT HEART
Sun-burnished
The sea slit
The morning lit up
Furnished my wit
The varnished mirror beneath me crawls
And over-yonder my sun it calls
Back tarnished memory bit by bit.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
GENTLY TREAD
Just because I‘m alive doesn‘t mean I‘m not dead
Just because I‘m talking doesn’t mean anything has been said
Just because I‘m lost doesn’t mean I‘m not being led
You might still be hungry, even after you‘ve been fed,
when you’ve been fed stones instead of bread
Those who heal wounds today, have also once bled.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
SELF-CONFIDENCE
Confidence.
The beginning and the end
Of Fulfilment.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
REPUTATION
So quickly fame
Is followed by shame –
Build instead a good name
That knows no blame –
This should be the aim
Of your substance and game –
Solid name, not fickle fame.
Incorruptible Character is the same
As an inextinguishable flame.
You can remake fortune and fame,
It is hard to recast a broken name.
But if you do fall and lose your face
Stand up tall, don’t hide your face
Learn from your mistakes and change your ways
And boldly seek again the sun’s rays.
It takes Character to push on despite pain
But it also takes character to rise again.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
BOYS TO MEN
The older I get,
The more I miss my father.
The more knowing I grow,
The more I miss him.
The more I know him.
The more I understand him.
We live life forwards,
But understand life backwards.
When it‘s too late to change anything,
That’s when we understand everything.
The young shall grow.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
(I just feel like remembering today)
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 