The train is full of hopes And full of broken hearts Full of starts and stops A moving story of many parts. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Social Beings
YOUR OWN
Don’t go after what you don’t desire, And don’t go after what does not desire you. Connect with your own and you will go higher - Chasing the wrong one will drain and tire you. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
A RESTAURANT
They come in with empty stomachs And leave with full hearts - A restaurant is a homestead in public, A social comforter of sorts. A smile tastes as good as wine, And the sound of laughter Will be your lifeline And quench your hunger long after. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
BECOMING CIRCUMSPECT
A year passed by so quickly, like a whirlwind. The most important lesson I have learned: Value people who tell you the truth, for they are rare. Be sparing with your trust. And know that, unfortunately or fortunately, there is always something more to every story you hear. The exceptions to this rule are rare. So, become circumspect, even as you love harder. Because the harder you love, the deeper you go into the heart of truth and deception. The human heart is on earth to grow, and it grows only by intense and authentic experiencing of itself and of other hearts. So, open your heart to everything, but know this: “Everything” includes both the light and the dark, both the dependable and the treacherous, coming both from strangers as well as, even more so, from the people you trust.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
PARALLEL UNIVERSES
When a person just doesn’t know how to tell you the truth, they simply stick to the lie. From start to finish. Even if they want to tell you the truth, they don’t know how to, they don’t know where to start because the truth runs on a completely different storyline and separate lifestyle, opposite reality and parallel universe. It will hurt you deeply and completely overturn your view of life and of them. Or so the person thinks. But if only they would try you, to see a new person emerge and a new powerful authentic relationship form.
Starting with a lie is always a slippery slope, a rollercoaster ride. It is nervousness and heart palpitations from start to finish. It can be exciting and exhilarating, until it becomes human and personal. Then it becomes a chore, a nightmare, a heavy load, and a puzzling sphinx, a difficult riddle to solve. Tell the truth and shatter the other person’s reality? Or maintain the lie and allow it to eat you inside and gnaw at the other person’s gut instincts, and prevent both of you from ever forming a true bond? And yet, only the truth liberates.
There will be a humanity one day of honest human spirits who live, share and relate in the light of truth always and in all things. Deeply and simply. Inside and out. Individually and as a society. The most fundamental truth we owe ourselves as human beings is the truth of how we really are as a person. This is the basis of all relationships and of society and of a possibility to one day have a reflection of Paradise on Earth. A home away from Home.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
SHOW YOU
Show people who you are So that those who want to go will go And those who want to stay will stay And those who want to come will come And those who want to keep away will keep away. And when they show you who they are You will be hurt by some who go And be pleasantly surprised by some who stay, You will be amazed by some who come And you will not even notice those who keep away. Show people who you are And they will show you who they are. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
BONDS
We belong to God, Not to one another. Possessiveness is flawed, No one owns the other. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
MOVING THROUGH WORLDS
Moving through worlds Like a thought moving through minds - Changing and being changed By everything and everyone one finds. Worlds as different as different can be, Minds as far apart as distance can be, Hearts as strange as strangers can be, And yet in all these places you still can be. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
THE INNER STREET
The people on the street The street on the people Weighing them down… The people in the street The street in the people Lifting them up… What we push down Will one day rise back up. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
ON THE STREET
There are people who live on the street The street’s human face and heartbeat By rain and sun, by snow and by sleet These are those people that we meet Shuffling past and huddling by our feet Who we glance barely by and rarely greet Kindness, it seems, is truly a mean feat. Arw we afraid to share in their defeat? Is life a race in which we all compete? Does shame force the broken to retreat? Do losers get an opportunity to repeat? People at their lowest don’t need our conceit. A part of ourselves lives on the street Looking for dignity, a roof and something to eat. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 