You think it matters Until it happens And then you realise It doesn’t really matter You think it kills Until it happens And then you realise It only hurts for a while And then it disappears. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
of Subtle Strokes
WOMAN’S HEART
Women are usually emotionally far ahead of men. For brief moments, the men might overtake, but in the overall story, usually a woman’s heart knows more than a man’s heart, knows it earlier than the man’s heart, remembers more than the man’s heart does, and retains the memory for much much longer than a man’s heart ever could.
Without woman’s heart we would lose our memory of home and our understanding of homeliness. When a woman goes, the home goes. And when a woman comes, Home comes back. The heart of woman alone can dig a tunnel to hell or span Heimdall’s bridge to Heaven. And she does it quietly, right there beside you, where the half of them poison you and kill your spirit’s joy, and the other half of them heal you and make you deeply happy. With just a few words, and sometimes even without saying a word.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
REAFFIRMING DIGNITY
When a woman leaves a man who loves her to follow a man of money, it is the most crushing pain a man can feel. But if he does not let it kill him, it will only liberate him in the end. Every once in a while you have a chance to look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself “I am somebody”. Something will push you there. Something that seems aimed at robbing you of your dignity, your pride, your self-respect. Something that will try to tie your actual value as a human being to some material status or achievement or level of acceptance by someone or some people. Something that will make you feel small. And nothing does this deeper than love that chooses money over you. Then you have to stand in front of the mirror and look into the soul of that man staring back at you and recognise his true value. Remind yourself of the principles at the core of your foundations as a Human Being. Remind yourself of what connects you to God and to true life. And teach yourself again that your value is more than your monetary wealth or material standing. And don’t allow anyone to tell you otherwise – not any man and not any woman. Because, In Your Dignity, You Are Somebody.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
WHERE THE HEART BELONGS
Someone who doesn’t take you with both hands, willingly and eagerly and totally, that person is not your home, nor you theirs. No matter how much it hurts, tear yourself away from them and move on.
Wounds heal with time.
We live in two worlds simultaneously. The one world is politics and society, is work and recreation, is projects and ambitions and all kinds of responsibilities, is ideologies, and is even family too sometimes. This is the one world, in which we chase achievements.
But there is another world in which we also live. It is deeper, is more subtle, more intense, quieter, and often very invisible. It is the loves that come and go; the tears and longings that burn our hearts; the seldom laughter of genuine joy; the raw friendships; the secret passionate love affairs; the intimately guarded happy home; the given trust and the broken trust; it is the real us deep inside.
We live in these two worlds simultaneously. And then time passes, and we die. And our obituary is full of what we did in the one world. While all our memories from the other world depart with us quietly in our hearts. And in the hearts of those who shared it with us.
Wounds will heal with time. But, while you’re on that journey, don’t go to where your heart does not belong. Seek your happiness in being true to yourself, always.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
GOOD FOR THE SAKE OF YOU
When you do the right thing, you’re doing it for yourself. Always remember that. And let that be your motivation, your reward and your joy. Because you have to live with yourself always, and there is nothing worse than living with someone you don’t respect, someone you don’t trust, someone you don’t like and someone who is not in sync with you. And that person is yourself.
You are your own home, your own paradise or hell, and your own purgatory too in whom you have to recognise, discipline, purify and transform yourself. You are all you have. Handle yourself with care and with thought, with integrity. Any lesson you would like to teach your children one day, or wish you taught your children once upon a time, teach that lesson to yourself today. Lessons of character. Regard yourself as your first and last and only true child. If that child dies, you die.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
THE FINAL IMPRESSION
The last picture we have of a person determines what we continue to think about that person; and yet that person might have changed the very next day after the last time we saw them.
But for years and decades after that we continue to hold this picture and this opinion about the person.
And should our paths ever cross again we usually begin to relate again to that person and that opinion and that picture and that character that was the one we last experienced and remember.
So, we end up talking to a ghost and missing the real person right there in front of us.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
YOU
No one else but you - Is this magic? Is this juju? There is value in virtue More powerful than voodoo. No one else but you I just had to woo you And once I sort of knew you I just had to do you. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
IS TIME A CIRCLE?
Is time a circle, not a line? Does it have a center? A Center to which we return When we lose our Center? A moment in our childhood, A time from another life, Something that never changes, A piece of eternal life. A recurring dejavu - I have been here before And so have you Like Waves on the sea shore. The seasons recur for a reason The past repeats itself intermittently We come from the Future And it is waiting for us to return impatiently. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
THE SMILES OF STRANGERS
The smiles of strangers along the way; Eyes that touch with a friendly look briefly - Just a few of these silent greetings a day Change the feel of the city, lighten it greatly. And they are there, just enough of humanity; Partake in it, for life is rushing by so quickly. Joy-givers are preservers of human dignity. Every day is a gift. Use it wisely. Be happy. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
IN YOUR HEART
The joy of the brand new day The happiness that wants to play The laughter in your heart Even when outside the sky is grey Don’t let anything take your joy away Fight for your right to be happy everyday Fight for the light in your heart Happiness is the Paradise of Today Night and day, November or May, Laughter is the currency in which you pay For the gift of life in your heart. My morning thoughts on a happy Sunday. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 