TIME TO PART

It’s time to part
With peace of heart,
Reconciliation the chart -
Lord, how great Thou art.

Finally letting go
Of pain and sorrow,
Of wanting and woe -
You reap what you sow.
You forgive, forget and grow.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

ADJUSTING

You overcome the pain
By becoming one with it.
You lighten the rain
By learning to dance in it.
You conquer rejection
By accepting it.
You unburden affection
By confessing it.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

HARMATTAN LEAVES

Dusty green leaves
Harmattan leaves you husky
With the haze of dawn and dusk
West Africa will Chest Saharan breath
Lovingly for three months
Until it springs into the Atlantic
Like a restless traveller into his lover.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

BEFORE I SLEEP

The tropical warmth
With teeth as strong as roots
Beating on lion skin drums
Evening voiced on bamboo flutes
Fleeting memory
That happened too long ago
To be remembered properly
Before I sleep more miles to go.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THE LONELY JOURNEY

The lonely journey
Following your intuition
Following your conviction
Following your sensing
Constantly needing someone
But having no one
To talk to.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THE LIFE WITHIN

Allow love to conquer you
Allow love to be your leader
Allow love to reorder you
Allow love to be your healer

Let love break you
Let love shake and wake you
Let love take you
Let love unmake and remake you

When love enters, you’re in
When love goes, you sin
When love wins, you win
Love is the life within.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THE HURTING LOVE

The Love of God
Will hurt you -
Make no mistake about that -
In order to cure you.

Are you ready to grow?
To reap what you sow?
To be polished until you glow?
To go with the flow
Wherever God’s wind may blow?

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

PAIN AND GAIN

Without the pain
My life would have been so empty,
My spirit’s real gain
Are the lessons and they are plenty.

It is really possible
To lose a person and become whole,
It is really possible
To lose the world and gain your soul.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

SHAME

Don’t be ashamed
Of your feeling of shame
For your ability to feel ashamed
Protects you from coming to shame.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

FINDING VALUE

Separate yourself from things
In order to know the value of things
Go deep into things
In order to learn the true value in things

Separate yourself from people
In order to know the value of people
Come close to, go deep into, people
In order to see the true value in people

Metamorphose away from yourself
In order to know the value of yourself
Develop again into your true self
In order to feel the value in being yourself.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river