We have to become beautiful Inside and outside And stop roaming the earth full Of shame and pride Looking for a Paradise That is ours and ours alone to make - Until we arise At home, our success abroad is fake. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Travel And Sojourn
WORLDS
As I travel the world outwardly, I also travel through myriads of inner worlds inwardly.
Within short periods, I interact with people of different mentalities, characters, backgrounds, histories, personalities and inner worlds; people whose inner lives are often completely different from mine but sometimes also extraordinarily similar to mine.
And I’ve learned one thing. It is not the outer world that is big and vast; it is the inner world that is vaster and more diverse than the universe. But it is also that same inner world that is the smallest, most singular and most undifferentiated space in all of creation.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
THE GOD OF THE WILLING
We cannot use God to hide away from the world. Rather we should use God to engage with, decipher and overcome the world. Above all, the world within us. God is not for cowards or weaklings. God is for the brave, the bold, the adventurous, the determined, the open, those who are ready to use the earthlife for that for which it was granted to them: to experience, and to grow through this experiencing.
The form or the content of the experiencing is different for each person. For some it is a quiet thing they need to experience, for others it is a loud thing; for some it is a popular thing they must dare, for others it is an unpopular or even a seemingly inconsequential thing; for some it is a controversial thing, for others it is a safe and boring and therefore annoying and unbearable thing; for some it is personal love, for others it is objective love.
Everybody has those things that will call their heart deeply – and running to God will still not free you from them. There is no escape because it is inside you. God is not there to hide you from yourself or from your challenges. God is there to help you to deal with them. That is why HE granted you this earth life, because HE knows you will need every second of whatever length of time you earned for yourself in this current incarnation.
So, get to work! Go for it. Set off with the business of living by experiencing. God will help you if you are brave and honest.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
PARTS OF WAYS
Ways part in part And while parts of ways Stay apart other parts Remain inside the heart Until the harmattan of days Has cleared and the haze Lifts and a new path starts. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
BAY OF HEART
There is always something to say And no one to say it to The heart is a deep wide bay Where stories and strangers sail into To quietly offload, sit and recuperate Locked in the soliloquy of the seeker The pain-cooked rebirth to elevate Phoenix back to Light in a world grown bleaker. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner rivero
THE TRAIN
The train is full of hopes And full of broken hearts Full of starts and stops A moving story of many parts. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
THE TRAIN WILL DEPART
The Train will depart It will move If you’re on it, you’ll leave the station behind If you’re on the platform, it will leave you behind But when the time comes the train will depart And two people who’ve Until that moment been together will part. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
MARCH TOWARDS APRIL
So many things ending in my life this month, as March ends. And so many things starting. Looking forward to April. Is my heart big enough to contain and bear it all? Yes, my heart is always big enough. And when it isn’t, it simply grows some more, grows again.
Aries, as ever, you end the old and bring the new. For me, to me, in me.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
SLEEP WALKER
Every night when I sleep and wake up in the morning , I jump large distances. I don’t know where I go when I’m sleeping, but I never wake up where I fell asleep. The person who sleeps at night, dies, and a new person wakes up in the morning. So, if you were in my heart before I died in the night, and you are still or again in my heart when I wake up, as a new person, in the morning, then know that I truly love you, for you are anchored at a depth within me that is deeper than all the changes. But the day I wake up and check inside my heart and you are no more there, then know that a fundamental change has taken place within me. The person who exists now does not know or recognise you and does not love you anymore.
Friends, waste not the night. Pray before you fall asleep, and let your spirit walk, through its interactions and reflections, to its next station of development; yea, and let your spirit jump at night to its new conclusions. The night is not meant for sleeping. The night is meant for weeping, for keeping pace with your spiritual development, for healing, for recharging your solar plexus, and for leaping to new recognitions. Only the mind sleeps off at night, when it has grown tired of thinking. But the spirt, the spirit is awake. So, something continues to happen at the back of your mind. And what your spirit learns while your body is asleep, it will attempt to reveal to your intellect, your day-conscious mind, in the morning when you wake up again. But we don’t always understand, and we don’t always remember.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains
THE HURTING SPACE
Allow yourself the space to hurt, To mourn, to miss what is gone; If your tears want to wet your shirt, Let them fall, and flow, and run. Give yourself enough time to heal, The heart needs a while to transform; To intuit, to perceive, to deeply feel Is for the heart simply the norm. Walk away slowly from your past, No need to rush, you’re not coming back. Take in everything, first to the last, And then continue down that one-way track. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 