Women are so serious, you know
There’s a way she looks at you sometimes
From beneath her eyelids
And you know
She’s taking a second look
Because you passed the first test
Then even your heart skips a beat
You don’t want to fail the test
But you don’t want to pass it either
Oh how you want to pass it! Oh no
Oh yes – oh, shut up! Men are pigs.
Just be grateful for whatever she gives you
And try not to mess it up too much
You don’t deserve it anyway.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
In the hospital waiting room
It was not the sick who were ailing
But the healthy who accompanied them
I saw more worry in the eye
Of many a mother
Many thoughts on the brow of
Each accompanying husband
I saw that love shares burdens
And carries them doubly
And friendship will go the extra mile
And family is a wordless wonder
And the heart is the deepest mystery on earth.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I knew it
It was too new
Not to be true too –
The questions unreplied were too few too
Happiness swallowed all the cares
Sorrow wears
Discord tears
Happiness shares and it goes around
The world is enough
Big enough, small enough, world enough
Sure.
Manure is pure. Sure.
Even a decadent mind
Even that dark heart
Can laugh out loud
Out loud –
Manure is pure.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
The freedom you give yourselves
Is the freedom you’ll share
If you say I won’t be free
You’re bound to binding me
If you say you’ll own it all
You’ll have to fight us off
Because I want a piece of peace
A pint of prosperity
A joint of hope and happiness
A chunk of a chance at success
A healthy dose of social security
And a shot of education –
Give us our share!
Cheers!
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
You make me richer
The more I give to you
The well fills the pitcher
Lovingly. This is from me to you
Sings the well, a wishing well
No coin can grant the wishes
That kindness will, a kindness well
Your heart, a table of rare dishes
More profound than profundity
Wiser than the wisest sagacity
Where it stops – the world – there begins
Aye there begins Friendship, and wins.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
They said, you’re silent, and when you speak, you don’t speak of the things we know you know, the things you once spoke about. You don’t preach, you don’t teach, you don’t educate, elucidate or inform.
I said I have seen it all and it’s all an illusion. Never follow high-sounding words; they always hide a lie somewhere. All I want is just to be happy.
And I said, keep searching and searching until you find the hypocrite within you; and when you have looked each other in the eye, you will learn to recognize him or her also in the people, the words and the works around you. It’s very easy to be deep and profound. It’s much more difficult to be honestly imperfect.
If you want to be happy, you can’t skip the first step. It is also the last step: honest imperfection. Leave the wise words to the teachers. You, just be happy. That’s the only thing left that I still honestly care about. The rest is just a waste of precious time at best, deception of self and others at worst.
A funny thing happened: this morning I heard a saxophone playing and it gave me more than all the wise moving words in this world ever could or did. It sang the melody of all my sins, all my hopes, all my regrets, all my joys, all the humanity within me; and in the end I knew, it is true: the inner voice is the real you.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Insight awakens
What hope is there for Sight?
No matter what your eyes see outwardly
Your heart insists on knowing better inwardly
Proof is intellectual
Knowledge perceptual
A Dream will insist
Reality is the dreamy Mist.
Vision takes over
You become a tool of its mission
Lose your power of decision
In matters beyond the mind
There the mind is blind –
Your Vision does for you the Seeing
Makes of you a true human being
The mind sees the light
Bows to the inner power of Insight.
You search for words to speak your mind
Your strange heart is all you’ll find.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Conscience = con science = with knowledge
In your conscience
You know
The difference between
Right and wrong.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Diamonds and pearls
Gold, frankincense and myrrh
Silver and jewels
Precious stones, rubies, crystals
Treasures…
Beauty is a thing of the Spirit
It reminds the spirit of its home
And gives it the incentive
To come back home.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Like water, going…
Like air, there, everywhere…
Gentle strength
Will slowly overcome
And overtake
You
Just when you think that
You have conquered…
Like love, forever…
Like trust, silently growing…
Gentle strength
Will finally become a part
Of you
Your greatest asset
Just when you think that
You have been conquered…
Though they hit you
And hit you again and again
Yet they lose always
Because love is the strongest force of all.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 