LOVE IS A PRISON

My only Crime was loving you
And loving you too much too
But If this is a crime
I’ve done my time
Release me
Ease me
Out
Tell me what it’s all about
An outer whisper, an inner shout
Free me from insecurity and doubt.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

PEOPLE’S SIGNALS

Pay attention to the signals
That people give you;
Take them seriously -
The signals won’t deceive you.

No one says everything;
They leave it to you
To figure it out if you’re smart
And paying attention too.

And above and beneath it all
Your own inner voice
Will analyse the signals and more
And make its own choice.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

ACHING

Deep inner feelings of love are possible
The love that causes the heart to ache is possible
The love you cannot forget is possible
The love that is stronger than you is possible
The love that changes you is possible 
You just have to meet the right person
To experience the incredible aching
With or without Heartbreaking.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

NICE PEOPLE LIE TOO

Nice people lie too
And when they do
They defend it with determination
For fear of losing their reputation.

Once you start with a lie
You have no choice
But to continue to deny
Using your false voice

And you become hard
And you become cold
And you put up your guard
And you grow old

It was worth it, I guess,
To have wrongly said Yes -
It would be sad to have killed your soul
For nothing, and miss your true goal.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

FORGET IT

How humility can guide you
To find yourself if you let it -
How anger can ride you 
To death if you won’t forget it -

Forget it, it’s done and gone,
Your pain is the healing kind -
When you lost her, you won
A deeper heart, a higher mind.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

HEARTS NEED TIME

The heart needs a long time
To understand that someone is gone.
Decades after the death bells chime,
The heart still waits for the loved one
To come back home.

The heart needs a long time
Because hearts are built for eternity.
Loving is more violent than crime,
You’ll be sentenced to immortality
As you wander and roam
Trying to come back home.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

REPEAT

It’s like 10,000 years away
It’s like you went away
On that fateful day
It repeats itself everyday.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

BE HONEST WITH PEOPLE UPFRONT

Be honest with people upfront. Because they are giving you their all, hoping you will accept it and believing you are the one. If you know you are not available for them or they are not what you seek, don’t let them plant their garden in your backyard and enjoy their fruits for a while before brutally uprooting them when you’ve had enough, or when they now want to enter the house, or when the one or thing you really want shows up. You cause a deep pain in the universe and open a wound in their hearts that will bleed for lifetimes thereafter. Be honest with people upfront. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Don’t say things you don’t mean or that aren’t REALLY real. If it’s not what you really want or if you’re not really sure, say it truthfully, keep your distance or break it off at once. You will gain a friend, and respect, for life, down the line.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains

THAT KIND OF LOVE

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

TRUST IS THE MESSAGE OF TRUTH

One thing I know about life: you tell the truth to the person you truly love, to your soulmate. You feel enough trust and empathy, and you have the strong craving, to share the truth, the real naked truth, with them. People who are not able to tell you the truth are telling you that they don’t really have a deep place for you in their heart. This is a painful recognition to have, but a necessary one too. It helps you to protect yourself from deeper hurt and from new hurt in the future.

Trust is the message of Truth. As long as truthfulness is not coming from helplessness and desperation, then it is on the one hand a sign of respect, and on the other hand it is the ultimate admission of safety, intimacy and trust. You know the people you trust by the secrets you feel comfortable sharing with them. And you know the people who don’t trust you by the secrets they hold back from you. These are the people who are not close to you, no matter how close to you they seem to be. Veracity is the test – and the taste – of intimacy.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains