ALL BECAUSE OF LOVE

We make mistakes
And mistakes make us
Who we are
This is who we are

We make decisions
And decisions make us
What we are
This is what we are

We make friends
And friends make us
How we are
This is how we are

We make love
And love makes us
Why we are
This is why we are.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

PRE-SENSING

You read me with your sixth sense
That’s going too far, I settle for less
I read you with my primitive sense
My pre-sense
Half of all communication is unintended
Life is beautiful if we express it
And even more beautiful if we let it express itself
Through us in us as us for us to us with us
Inspite of us
You are a poem writing itself daily
Your spirit, your thoughts, your emotions, your body
Are flowing with the inner river
Drawn to me
With the purest of primitive intentions.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

ONE LOOK

If we could see ourselves through
Other people’s eyes, how much better
We would know ourselves and them too.

In the cold your gaze is a warm sweater
And when I’m lonely and missing you
Your eyes write me a wordless love letter.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

NO OTHERS

I stopped wanting others
After I met you -
And I still don’t want any others
Even after I’ve lost you.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THE BEST YOU

To love is to trust
Because love is the most
vulnerable feeling on earth

To trust is to respect
Because trust is the purest
compliment that has worth

To respect is to obligate
Because respect indicates
expectation of highest virtue

To love is to trust
is to respect is to obligate
you to be the best you.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

PEOPLE SAY ALL SORTS

When people insist
I love you more
Put them to the test
They won’t love you anymore

When people claim
I don’t love you anymore
Treat them the same
They’ll love you once more

Don’t base everything
On just what people say
People will say anything
Just to get through another day

Everybody wants happiness
But not everyone really knows
How to get that happiness -
We’re all searching and it shows.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

HUSH

The red rush
Autumn is on the thrush
Mush mush
And a flush of lush
You are more than a crush
- Hush.
I can’t brush you aside. 
I lied.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Poems from the inner river

GIVING TIME AND SPACE

When someone asks for time and space
Give it to them
They are not necessarily running away from you
They might really just need time and space
To come to terms with the fact of you.

And if they are running away from you
Then there’s no need to want them close to you.
It’s not an insult or an attack
It’s just a chance to find true happiness for both of you
Each in their own way, own time and own space.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

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

SOLITUDE AND YOU

A part of me still wants to show you
Every little flower that crosses my lane
Share with you every story and review
That get’s thrown up by my algorithm

Tell you all the things that cross my mind
Numberless times all through the day
Reveal my plans and ask you if you also find
Them as interesting as they seem to me

Ask you how you are, where you are,
Who you’re with, what you’re doing there
Where it is, if it’s near or if it’s far
How long you’ve been and will be there…

But then another part of me reminds me
That you are gone and gone for good
And I lock my conversations back inside me
Because I’m getting used to this solitude.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river