Hard words are sometimes the kindest Foraging eyes are sometimes the blindest Life’s help is sometimes to put you to the test It pushes you to move when you long to rest I’ve never wanted something so badly before I’ve never eaten to my fill and still wanted some more I’ve never said goodbye and continued to feel so sore I’ve never been so trapped before in a folklore So many new things starting at the same time Be patient when you’re looking for the right rhyme Little doses of salt and pepper, curry and thyme Life is sometimes a little sugar, sometimes a little lime I love like Haily’s comet, ever and again I come again Laughter fills my heart again and conquers the pain I can’t explain it, I am a lake and I am the rain And so are you, and every end is just another refrain. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
of Subtle Strokes
LOVE IS THE LIGHT OF THE HEART
Love is a light It illumines the heart And makes it bright And it is light Like a winged cart Rising to the height Love is a chart It always goes right Right from the start Love is the highest art Love is the deepest light Of which Happiness is a part. Love is the light of the heart Love is the happiness of the heart Love is the strength of the heart. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
HEAVY WITH THE WEIGHT
The snow is red but not with envy Heavy with the weight of thought Waiting for the warmth of friendship Forgiveness and love and a drop Of sunlight to melt into the ground Going it looks ugly but it’s not Letting go of what you thought you’d found But, patience, the Earth will eat it all up. Are you snowing, are you falling Are you resting, are you thawing Are you meting, are you calling For companionship while you’re withdrawing? Slowly withdrawing… Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
A PART OF YOU
Sometimes a part of you Can live outside of you And run away from you And refuse to come back to you And will ignore you And will not recognise you And will reject you And will hurt you And will avoid you Because the reason why It is living outside of you Is in order to find itself And fully become itself Through struggle, experiencing and reflection Uninfluenced by you In order to one day be able To complement you And be complemented by you. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
ONE LOVE
You can only love one person, you can never love two people or even more. True love. In order to love another person, you have to first change and become a different person. But the person who loved that first person can never ever love another person. Once your heart has bonded, it can never ever unbond again, until it dies and becomes born again as a new heart.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
SELF-RESTRAINT
Just because it’s available Doesn’t mean you should take it; Just because it’s achievable Doesn’t mean you should make it; Just because it’s vulnerable Doesn’t mean you should break it; Just because it’s uncomfortable Doesn’t mean you should fake it; Just because it’s unshakeable Doesn’t mean you should shake it; Just because it’s accessible Doesn’t mean you should wake it; Just because it’s expendable Doesn’t mean you should stake it; Just because it’s edible Doesn’t mean you should bake it. Some things you just leave as they are. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
LICENCE TO LAUGH
Learn to bear your pain in aloneness, But don’t bear your aloneness in pain. Aloneness should bring relief from stress, Should help you inner peace to attain. Being alone with your sorrow is sad; Share your aloneness instead with your gladness. Seclusion allows the Healing Power of GOD to save you from overstimulation and madness. And you will be born anew in silence, For aloneness is the mother of transformation. And joy shall be your portion and your licence To laugh again, in you a flame of Devotion. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
IT’S A HUMAN HEART
It’s winter You’ll have warmer days And you’ll have colder days But they’ll all be cold. It’s a human heart You’ll have clearer days And you’ll have uncertain moments But still, be bold. It’s an Earth life You came to cry And you came to laugh And maybe grow old. The people you love the most Will cause you the most pain And yet they’re the only ones Your heart will want to hold. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
THE VAST DISTANCE
The deepest form of intimacy is the sharing of truth. Sex is not the highest form of intimacy - Honesty is. No sleuth can penetrate a false heart of lies. No compass can navigate the vast distance opened up by lies that keeps hearts separate. This distance cannot be closed by vicinity - This distance can only be closed by veracity. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
PARTS OF STORIES
The person you think is in your story is also in someone else’s story. Never think a person is exclusively yours, even if they tell you so. It only depends on the form and context, on the depth and scope, and on the intensity and exact nature, of their role in your story and their roles in other people’s stories as well. Just like you are in many people’s stories, so is even the person closest to you maybe even closer still to someone else in that other person’s story. People are interconnected in ways nobody can fathom.
And you can only see your story, but lack complete access into the world of the other person’s story. You only know the character a person plays in your story, but you would be surprised if you ever saw the character that same person plays in another person’s story. Never will you know all the parts of a story, only some – if you are lucky, maybe the relevant ones. Never will you know all the people in a person’s story. And never ever will you know all the stories in which a person features – not even the person closest and dearest to you. Just like only God knows all the stories that you too are a part of.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
