DIE HARD

All the things I thought would kill me,
Didn’t kill me.
But they sure did hurt…
They hurt like hell for a long time -
But they didn’t kill me.
They made me wiser, stronger and sadder;
But in the end I’m still me.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

A PART OF YOU

Sometimes a part of you
Can live outside of you
And run away from you
And refuse to come back to you
And will ignore you
And will not recognise you
And will reject you
And will hurt you
And will avoid you

Because the reason why
It is living outside of you
Is in order to find itself
And fully become itself
Through struggle, experiencing and reflection
Uninfluenced by you
In order to one day be able
To complement you
And be complemented by you.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

PEOPLE NEVER COME BACK

People never come back
They move on to the new you
Or to their new perception of you
With or without you
And you move on to the new them
Or to your new perception of them
With or without them
But the old will never come back.

Tomorrow will come.
Those who try to cling on to the past
Lose their way and orientation very fast
Because Time never goes back.
Those who meet again do so in the future
As different people with a different Nature
Because only going forward takes you back
Home.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

SELF-RESTRAINT

Just because it’s available
Doesn’t mean you should take it;
Just because it’s achievable
Doesn’t mean you should make it;
Just because it’s vulnerable
Doesn’t mean you should break it;
Just because it’s uncomfortable
Doesn’t mean you should fake it;
Just because it’s unshakeable
Doesn’t mean you should shake it;
Just because it’s accessible
Doesn’t mean you should wake it;
Just because it’s expendable
Doesn’t mean you should stake it;
Just because it’s edible
Doesn’t mean you should bake it.

Some things you just leave as they are.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

LICENCE TO LAUGH

Learn to bear your pain in aloneness,
But don’t bear your aloneness in pain.
Aloneness should bring relief from stress,
Should help you inner peace to attain.

Being alone with your sorrow is sad;
Share your aloneness instead with your gladness.
Seclusion allows the Healing Power of GOD
to save you from overstimulation and madness.

And you will be born anew in silence,
For aloneness is the mother of transformation.
And joy shall be your portion and your licence
To laugh again, in you a flame of Devotion.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THROUGH HONESTY

Don’t be ashamed
Pour it all out
The heart is tamed
and freed from doubt
by the bravery of honesty.

Let those that hurt you
continue to mock you
It still cannot stop you
from healing through honesty
and growing through adversity.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

MAY YOU

May you grow
Like the flowers you love so much

May you sow
Seeds of fruits that nourish as such

May you glow
Under the purity of a true lover’s touch

May you know
Honesty to which you can safely clutch.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THE LOUD CROWD

The loud crowd
Is soft to my heart
Their warmth is gold
When they smile they hold
My heart with love untold
In their family fold.
Good people don’t need
To be perfect to lead -
Their goodness leads you home.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

WRONG AND RIGHT

How can something so strong
be so wrong? Go so wrong?
We don’t belong to our emotions,
they belong to us, but our devotions
are more accurate and honest,
what we long for the strongest.
Pain brings so much blessing
to every soul that learns its lesson
and undergoes transformation,
maturation and the realisation
that it wasn’t wrong after all,
it was a strong and jarring Call
to wake up before you fall.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

RIGHT THINGS

Do the right things
And do the things right
Spread your light wings
And make your wings light
Whatever the flight brings
Inner buoyancy brings flight
Up into the bright rings
Where happiness rings bright.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river