Of Virtues

INTERACTIONS AND INTERRELATIONSHIPS  

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

Envy and Jealousy and Possessiveness. Distrust and Disloyalty and the breaking of Promises. Not knowing one’s boundaries. Untoward and unjustified claims upon the other. Intrusiveness. Space and vicinity. Balance. Knowing the line between giving and taking, between being there and crossing boundaries, between being close enough and being too close for comfort. Knowing which demands and expectations are legitimate and must be met, and which ones are too intrusive. Respect. Mutual respect. Consideration for the other’s nature. Making the effort to know the other better. Carefulness. Intimacy. Understanding the different layers and forms of intimacy, and knowing which ones to share with which people, which ones apply within which forms of friendship, which ones are exclusive and which ones are inclusive. You can connect with many people deeply, and each connection is different. But there is a certain connection that can only be shared with one, or none, at every point in time. Truthfulness and honesty and trust and bravery. Trust is a form of bravery. Reciprocity in our relationships with one another.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains

TIDES OF MARCH

~ Che ~ Leave a comment 
Arriving soon
Hardening moon
No dawn, no morning
It is always Noon.

A quiet sun, ready
Emotional but steady
It is Noon already.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

STOP ACCEPTING LIES

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

Stop accepting lies
Dressed up as niceness –
Humiliation lies
In falsehood, not kindness.
Empty conversations
Masking your blindness –
A Disappointed Soul
Will answer with silence.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

LEARNING

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

Take your time to know.
Find your space to grow.
Time and space are seeds you sow
To reap maturity tomorrow.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THE HURTING SPACE

~ Che ~ Leave a comment 
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

TIME TO PART

~ Che ~ Leave a comment 
It’s time to part
With peace of heart,
Reconciliation the chart -
Lord, how great Thou art.

Finally letting go
Of pain and sorrow,
Of wanting and woe -
You reap what you sow.
You forgive, forget and grow.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

ADJUSTING

~ Che ~ Leave a comment 
You overcome the pain
By becoming one with it.
You lighten the rain
By learning to dance in it.
You conquer rejection
By accepting it.
You unburden affection
By confessing it.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

NEVER STOP

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

Don’t be ashamed and don’t be afraid
To follow your heart and go for your love;
Rejection can shatter the plans best laid –
The important thing is that your heart did move
And you moved outwardly along with this inner motion,
For movement is the spirit’s most important need –
It will climb every mountain and cross every ocean
Until it has itself from all its shackles freed.
The soul will always love something or someone,
And this love will make it laugh and make it bleed
And make it outgrow itself and never be done,
Following the path Home wherever it may lead.
Some chapters end in joy, and some end in sorrow,
But neither of these can hold the spirit down forever –
An inner restlessness will grip it again tomorrow;
Until it gets back Home, it will never stop. Never.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

TREACHEROUS

~ Che ~ Leave a comment 
There’s no understanding it
There’s no explaining it
Humans are treacherous
Just start accepting it.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THE INNER STREET

~ Che ~ Leave a comment 
The people on the street
The street on the people
Weighing them down…

The people in the street
The street in the people
Lifting them up…

What we push down
Will one day rise back up.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river