Be present
In the moment
Or when your moment comes
You will be absent
In it.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Of Transition
JOYFUL ACTIVITY
There’s a reason why it’s called Eternal Life,
Not perpetual snooze or eternal sleep.
Stop saying “rest in peace”
to those who have left the earth for the afterlife.
Wish them instead a safe journey
And Joyful luminous activity
For all eternity.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
#poemsthatmakeyouthink
LIFE GOES ON
The departed are not dead
They do not rest in peace
If they rest, they have no peace
If they have peace, they‘re not at rest.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
#poemsthatmakeyouthink
BOYS TO MEN
The older I get,
The more I miss my father.
The more knowing I grow,
The more I miss him.
The more I know him.
The more I understand him.
We live life forwards,
But understand life backwards.
When it‘s too late to change anything,
That’s when we understand everything.
The young shall grow.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
(I just feel like remembering today)
FOREVER IS A LAND OF GOODBYES
One of the most beautiful things
I have found
Is to be able to let go of the past
And move on –
But never forget the past.
I love every pain
Every joy
Every regret and remorse
Every parting and every loss
Every victory and every memory
For by the very act of going
They left something with me
That will live in me forever…
Forever is a land of goodbyes
And new beginnings.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
SPREAD MY WINGS
When they tempt me
I won’t lie
When they hurt me
I won’t cry
When they free me
I won’t fly
And when they kill me
I won’t die
But will simply continue with my roam
Until I see what of my dream has become
And then I will smile, spread my wings and fly away home.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
LIFE COMES IN CHAPTERS
Kidnapped
Is there still hope for me?
The sun sets sadly as slowly as he can
By the last light of day
Find a way
Did you see the baby that was stolen?
Did you see the boy that was broken?
However hard you look, you will see
No resemblance at all between them and
The man now woken, now walking.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
PRESENT
Some people seem absent
When they are present among us
Unnoticed by us
And yet when they go
Their absence leaves a big hole
Where their quiet presence once was
A very noticeable absence.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
CONSTANT CRY
He lived with us very briefly
When I was still a child
My father’s elder brother
When we prayed before our meals
And made the sign of the cross
He teased us, Protestants, about having gone Catholic
When he shaved in the morning
He explained to us the mysterious science
Of shaving stick, cream and blade
Other than that he didn’t talk much
A quiet quiet quiet man
Hurt no-one, thoughtfully kept to himself
Very different from the others
Never preached, never argued, never moralised
Never scolded, just silently observed
Three decades have passed
Rarely our paths ever crossed again
A short Hello each time, nothing more
I’m still trying to understand
The pain I’ve felt all morning today
Since I heard of Uncle Joe’s death
It doesn’t make sense
Someone I hardly knew
Just a few childhood memories
Just a few memories
That remind me of a time
Rich in memories and childlike insight
And a few memories
Of a quiet adult who never found a voice
In a culture of big egos, loud voices and aggression
His silence was louder, calmer, more lasting
So deep that only his death
Would open the deep wound of memory in my heart
His middle name was Ahamefula
Meaning “May my name not get lost” –
No, dear Uncle, it will not.
In loving memory of
Joseph Ahamefula Chukwumerije
1935 – 2013
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
REFLECTIONS ON TRANSITION
The earth is the mother
And the physical body the womb
In which the soul incubates and grows
Before birth into the beyond.
Each time we on earth are born
We have but been sunk
As a seed into a surrogate mother’s womb
To grow there a little strong.
Death is but the midwife
Dying the throes of labour and pain
Someone misses you each time you are born
Something receives you back at death again.
And all the things you did on earth
Shall be as a dream in the womb
So heed your spirit even while in the flesh
For it alone remembers its home.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
