What a difference a year can make - Even half-a-year of experiencing can remake Mind and soul, body and spirit completely. How quickly the present becomes the past, It never ceases to amaze me. I look at pictures from just a week ago last And it’s a different life already, A different time, a different world, a different me, A different you - my view has changed completely. Everything always Happens quickly, You take it immediately or you lose it swiftly. When the seasons change, they change completely. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Seasons And Times
DON’T WASTE TIME
I don‘t waste time. There is no wasted second Or minute or hour in my day. A day with me Is a month with many others Every moment counts everyday. Every thought, word, Every action, emotion, every intuition Everything has a role to play Everybody I meet Has something to return to me Or is someone I must rightly repay. 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
READY OR NOT
By the time you’re ready for me I’ll be ready for me too I’ll no longer need you to Complete me and hold steady for me. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
CHALLENGE OF THE PRESENT
When they were living It was for them not the past; Now that we are living It is for us also not the past. It is always the present - And it always feels the same; For some it feels like the end, For others like the start, of the game. The future will one day look back And call our present their past - But their present too will hold them back With the same challenges of the past. It always demands bravery Without the benefit of hindsight; To act without knowing if posterity Will prove you wrong or right. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
TIME IS TOO LONG SOMETIMES
You have to wait a little while to really Get to know people’s character truly If you let them unfold themselves freely Around you they will unravel duly - Yes, they will start with a façade first ideally But the heart, the heart, the heart is unruly It will break rank and show itself verily Eventually, for patience grinds masks cruelly To submission. Truth emerges voluntarily. Not every friend is a friend Not every enemy is an enemy But sometimes you have to wait till the end To recognise each person clearly. Unfortunately by then it might be too late To correct what happened at the gate. You let the wrong person in And kept the wrong person out - O voice within, o voice within, o voice within, Help me to accurately check people out. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
FORGET ME NOT
That deep moment When the grass is calm The gale is spent Nature is bent On being your heart’s balm A busy butterfly Like a restless thought Flutters by Waving hi and goodbye Forget me not Forget me not. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
BEFORE YOU
You always think you’re the first When you are young, How startling it is when you grow up To realise you were wrong. So many people before you Have these same heights traversed - Some recorded, many unrecorded, Their stories long dispersed. Tread the earth with humility, O modern day human; Stonehenge and Egypt’s pyramids Transcend our acumen. And when you are still young, Be thankful as you add new value, For you’re building on the foundation Of all that came before you. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
BRAVE THE LINE
Brave spirit, brave the line Between present and future, You’ll be just fine - Braving the new is human nature. Imagine a world turned around Where the servant becomes the master And those who were bound Now run ahead, moving ever faster. A time where crime is shamed And virtue claims the highest rewards And you won’t be blamed For honest mistakes moving forward. This future is yours to imagine Yours to embody, yours to achieve And it starts crystallizing Today with the way you live. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
YOU MUST BE PATIENT
There will be hope But the heart must cope First with a season Of conflict sans reason This moon is long faced And tied to a dead sea Rolling scrolls misplaced By startled history. You must be patient Time is clairaudient It hears your heart beating And your footfalls repeating The dance to victory. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 