FORGET ME NOT

That deep moment
When the grass is calm
The gale is spent
Nature is bent
On being your heart’s balm

A busy butterfly
Like a restless thought
Flutters by
Waving hi and goodbye
Forget me not

Forget me not.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THE END NEVER ENDS

The character of the end
One month passes
one year passes
10 years pass

Still no sight
no word
no message
No communication

That’s when it sinks in
That was really the end
He is gone
Gone for good.

The disappearance of friends
Ends are Not Trends
The heart never mends
The end never ends.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

WAY BACK HOME

Don‘t mourn me when I die
Wave me goodbye
I will be going home

If I miss my way home
Then I will come
Back again to retry.

So don’t mourn me when I die
I did not come to stay
I came here to find my way

Back Home.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

DRAW YOUR SECOND BREATH

When I first came to Germany,
I died, slowly and gradually.
And - this is the worst part -
I died alone, inside my heart.

Some might say it is a death
Akin to the planted seed
That dissolves inside the earth
En route to being freed;

Freed from the past and the old -
The path to growth into the new.
But death is empty, dark, cold.
And lonely. I never knew.

There is a path that leads back to life;
Beware - it is more painful than death
And it too with loneliness is rife
From which will emerge your second breath.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

MEMORYLESS TRAVEL

You have to get there to remember.

On the way there you will forget
Where you are going to
And why.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije

ALERTNESS

Be present
In the moment
Or when your moment comes
You will be absent
In it.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije

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