Might is not right –
Right is might.
This right is not the opppsite of left
Is not the right of fraternity bereft
This right is conscience
Is humanity in its essence
And the path to its Height.
– This right Is MIGHT.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Of Virtues
I SAW A TEMPTER
I heard a whisper
Which made more sense than it could have
And less sense than
It did
I felt a touch
Which was more intimate than it could have been
And less intimate than
It was
I met a stranger
Who looked more familiar than he should have
And less familiar than
He did
I perceived an odour
Which smelled nicer than it must have
And fouler than
It could
And then I saw a tempter
Who seemed exactly like I knew
A tempter ought not to be
Yet I knew it was temptation
Because it never answered my smile
Not the smile you see on my face
But the smile
That lives, always silent, in my heart
And the tempter
Does not answer this smile
Because how can you answer
What you don’t hear?
The silent smile who waits so gentle
Resides in everybody’s heart,
And anything that answers not my smile
Is not mine.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
START
If you decide, and start
To do nothing
Your gods will help you to
To nothing.
If you decide, and start
To do something
Your gods will help you to
Do something.
Onye kwe
Chi ya e kwe!*
Nature will strengthen the fruits
Of the seeds you sow and grow.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
————
* Igbo proverb: “If you say yes, your god will also say yes.”
MAID
They are nice masters
In this regard she is lucky, I guess
They make her feel at home
When she cooks and cleans
Sings to the baby, feeds the dogs
And the cats and is allowed to watch TV
But when she gets home in the evening
Without electricity, it’s a marvel to her
In the midst of her poverty, to see the joy
In her family’s eyes and to be at home again.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
BOTTOMLESS WELL
Everyday she printed dust on feet
Earlier than sunrise
She was a surprise
To every sleeping wanderer she will meet
On her way to the well, wishing well,
An empty bucket on her head
One more in each hand that bled
On her way to hell
The well, the well is dry
It is dry, barren, unresponsive
The less you get, the more you give
The desert will never cry
Every evening she dusts her way home
Not a drop of water
To herself she will mutter
Soliloquy on when the rain will come.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
LIFE IS A BURDEN MADE LIGHT
Life is a burden made light
By the weight of sacrifice
Your life is useless unless used to the full
For something meaningful and useful.
Self is heavy, selflessness is light
The battle is painless for them that fight
The volunteer’s prize is dignity
Freedom is not for free.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
from THE BEAUTIFUL ONES HAVE BEEN BORN
ECCENTRICITY
So what on earth
Is really wrong
With being an eccentric?
Nature, when you rub it
Or bring opposite poles together
Becomes electric
Perception when it expands
And touches all sources
Becomes eclectic
People when you force them
Into an unnatural Framework
Become erratic
And almost every great Invention
Or new thought
Came from an eccentric.
So tell me…
What on earth could be wrong wrong
WIth being an eccentric?
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
THAI BOXING
Pain will take
The pain away
Pain is medicine
When I’m in pain
Punishing shins
Slowing me down
Punish me, shins
The way is shorter
When the hurt is hurter
Pain is pain’s
Brutal painkiller.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
WRITE AND WRONG
Writing for the Readership
Instead of for yourself
Following the Leadership
Ignoring yourself
Where will it lead you to?
When you get there
Vice in the Guise of Virtue
And Loneliness austere
And Amnesia won’t still your Longing
Still searching for a Sense of Belonging.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
ALL OF IT
Bear with grace
Life’s every face
Truth is a buffet
Conscience is selective
I guess everyone is right
According to taste
You’ll always be someone else
To someone else
But the sum of your contradictions
Contradicts each one of them –
But bear with grace
Every face, life’s every phase.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 