How can someone Love someone so much? Is it possible? Once upon A time there was such. And betrayal couldn’t make the love go away, It only opened a wound that would forever stay And questions yearning to find answers some day. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Nature and Natural Laws
WHAT’S HIDDEN IN THE SOIL
How something so good Can just suddenly spoil You would be so surprised What’s hidden in the soil. How success and fulfilment Can defy time and toil You would be so mortified What’s hidden in the soil. How the hand that loved Can suddenly recoil You would be so horrified What’s hidden in the soil. The human heart is a garden, A kitchen, a fertile soil And strange things happen When things come to the boil. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
EVERY THERE
Everywhere you go, the Will of God is there, Whether you take cognisance of it or not, It doesn’t care, it is always there, now, everywhere. We used to know this once. We simply forgot. It is every here and every there. And ever near. No thought escapes its jurisdiction No word and no action Not even the finest intuitive perception Will runs its course without Divine retribution Every seed will come to fruition. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
I DREAM EVERY TIME I FALL ASLEEP
I dream every time I fall asleep And it’s always one adventure or the other; Conversations with beloveds I keep, My best friend, my father, my brother, And strangers too with whom I laugh and weep And fight and love and comfort one another; The dangers are real, the emotions are deep, Every fear, every tear, every worry and bother; At times I weightless fly, or I burdened creep, Through encounters that liberate or smother, But I’m always conscious even in the Deep, As awake as a baby born out of its mother. For I have vows to keep and sowed seeds to reap - And before it gets lighter it will get darker - And miles to go and never really sleep. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
AT THE BEGINNING
Pay attention to the beginning In the beginning Because the beginning Is the beginning of the ending. Every seed planted in the beginning Will become a fruit or a flower or weed And, before the end, manifest as a deed. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
FOREST WALK
A stroll through the curious trees Respectfully quiet to put you at ease What you hear is the noonday breeze Tell us your thoughts, human, if you please. But you hear neither the watching trees Nor the quietly questioning noonday breeze All you know - correct me, if you please - Is that in your heart you simply feel at ease. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
THE MAGIC MIX
The world is so varied So many different types of people The mix makes the magic Each world as distinct as it’s equal The human spirit, what a strange species That God created and sent to Earth Further than the imagination can see Diversity and depth without dearth No one person, no one tribe No one nation, no one race Can bridge alone your great divide And still your thirst for a homely place Only all of us together can Not all at once, for we are separated But by going from human to human With an open heart from land to land Will the segregated inside you be integrated. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
A FEELING OF WARMTH
A bright new day And yet there’s no sun Because the light Is a feeling of warmth Within my heart. To let go of pain Is a human feat You will love again We part to meet And meet to part. There’s a rainbow Universal, not a slogan Or a flag. A Hello Of Hope for everyone Eternity’s chart. Heaven’s memory song How great Thou art. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
MORNING YEARNINGS
Good morning, true Morning, Child of a Blue Night Spent on an Island of Dawning By a bright Dream light. Invisible sun, I feel you coming, Son of a celestial Height Full of a gazillion suns roaming Beyond earthly sight. I saw you in my dream last night My heart awakened and took flight Driven by longing for a land of light That called me, filled me, with delight Good morning, new Morning, Born of gentle Might, Let the world be gripped by Yearning… Let there be Light! Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
WORLD OF THOUGHTS
Imagine if there were an invisible war taking place In the world of thoughts, A carnage whose only trace Is this disharmony on Earth That evades all correction Whose roots seem omnipresent And elude detection. A parallel world, a prototype, The way we think, our inner life, Create the future we must face, our world of woe and strife. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 