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)
Very soon I might have to drop
Half of the things I’m into
In order to find enough time
To do the things I really mean to
The years fly past on fast forward
And everyday I feed the beasts that are eating me
Sometimes I need to stop, check and be sure
If it’s angels or demons that are leading me
Politics and society, belief, love and money
The five names of the very same monster
How long can Reincarnation remain on Auto-repeat
Futilely yelling I came, I saw, I conquered?
So give me that filter, I’ll separate
The misses I’ll regret from all the rest
Even as I wonder if it’s already too late
Before Death comes to pass the test.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Some things happen but
Once
In a lifetime…
It was here, it was there
It was where?
It is where?
It is gone…
It will never return.
-che chidi chukwumerije
The children come out to play
And all is happy and gay
In the month of May.
The farmers make their hay
In the shinning sun’s ray.
Hand in hand as they go their way
Young lovers whisper what they have to say
On their way to hear the new priest pray.
And following the song of the stock-bird jay
Gentle old couples of yesterday
Quietly remember their youth today.
The essentials will stay
When all else goes away.
This is the song in the heart of May.
– che chidi chukwumerije.
Do you see
Those two boats
On the river?
Two brothers
Will row, side by side
Into the sunset.
One will dock
On the golden banks
While the other
Will row on
And they will wave
Goodbye to each other.
This is the way
Of the world
Of love and loss
Of meeting and parting
Of friendship and memory
Of life and death.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Picture:
My brother Kwame and I
University of Ibadan, Nigeria
1995
