I’ve learnt the hard way What words can do When I write or say Them to you. When I think you will read between the lines You read the lines, And when I think you will read the lines You read between the lines. Sometimes I think you will understand That I don’t really mean what I’m saying, But the words enter you and start to expand And exact a price I will long be paying. Because words carry life And words carry meaning, A word that cuts and kills like a knife May not be corrected by a word of healing. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Reflection
UNTIL IT HAPPENS
You think it matters Until it happens And then you realise It doesn’t really matter You think it kills Until it happens And then you realise It only hurts for a while And then it disappears. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
A LITTLE HAPPY EVERYDAY
Sometimes you love someone, but the person loves someone else. Or the person simply prefers a lifestyle different from the one which a life with you would have to offer them. So they choose or go after someone else who, or another path that, can offer them that lifestyle.
Being that the aim, the very aim, of life itself is Happiness, this experience of rejection cuts to the very heart of the essence of existence. The hurt can kill the soul. It makes people reappraise themselves, question their worth and even find fault in their own fundamental character. Yet, while self-examination is healthy, so also are self-love, self-understanding and self-acceptance equally necessary.
When trapped in a spiral of self-abnegation in which one no longer recognises oneself, It then becomes imperative to awaken, within one’s consciousness, a new narrative of life and of self in order to find the path to a new source of joy, as a new person. To outgrow the self-image that traps one in a cycle of pain, perhaps even to shed certain traits, and to learn to see oneself, one’s path and one’s Why with fresh new eyes. To find a new understanding of the purpose of life.
This is where the concept of never giving up comes into play. Every morning when you wake up, strive for joy. Be prepared to let go of those thoughts and those beliefs that weigh you down debilitatingly. Be ready and able every day to try a new path, a new thought, until you find the exit – and then you can take flight again.
Life is a jigsaw puzzle. Many parts fit, but many parts don’t fit also. And you have to move the pieces about in your heart and in your life continuously, often, and courageously in order to slowly put your answers together.
And, as you stride on along this way, try… try to be a little happy every day. In the end, that’s all you have. That’s all we have to share with one another. That is our humanity.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
THE LONG FALL
The thing which if kissed will bring you the wildest happiness Is the thing which if missed will bring you the deepest sadness The higher you did fly The longer you will fall down Until you hit the ground And instantaneously die. It is not the final impact that hurts but the long excruciatingly long fall unable to reverse or arrest or accelerate the moment that will end it all. A time of remembering A time of regretting A time of wishful extrapolating And never forgetting. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
WALKING AND TALKING
Walking myself Through the corridors of dull greyness Talking to myself Until I become free of all my bitterness For it doesn’t matter who has hurt me I am nothing special I have hurt many too, irreparably, deeply, With this my heart must wrestle. Walking and whistling Talking and thinking Of what I’m receiving Whenever I’m grieving Spiritual resetting Not ever forgetting Destiny re-weaving Deep inner perceiving. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
BEWARE OF ECHO CHAMBERS
Beware of echo chambers. People who speak your thoughts Will soothe your loneliness But won’t show you your blind spots. Listen also to those people Who see you completely differently From how you see yourself. Completion seems sometimes unfriendly. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
REVERSER
Recognitions await the explorer The tail wags the dog Sometimes when they play The ears wade through the fog When eyes can’t see the way Nearer is not always clearer The fire comes from the log There’s also sadness in May Our life is our only authentic blog What we do says more than what we say Even a mirror needs a mirror A princess prefers a frog The night is the dreamers’ day Quiet people are also intensely agog With excitement they don‘t display To think otherwise would be an error. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
TIME MATTERS
If there were no time There would be no pleasure For there would be no experiencing, No piling up of inner treasure, No maturing, no developing, No struggle against which to measure Growth, delicious, ever unfolding, For eternity gained is the time spent. If there were no time, If Everything happened in one moment, There would be no rhyme. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
I CANNOT REMEMBER
I cannot remember all the good I did
I cannot remember all the evil I did
People remind me
As you go through the world today
Be mindful of the things you say
And do to those who cross your way
People will remind you one day.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
ALL AND NOTHING
You cannot have it all
Appreciate what you have and give gratitude
The fruits that want to fall
The fruits that have to fall
The fruits that will fall
Let them fall
You cannot have it all
Where you have nothing appreciate your solitude
For you can never have it all.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 