Just because I‘m alive doesn‘t mean I‘m not dead
Just because I‘m talking doesn’t mean anything has been said
Just because I‘m lost doesn’t mean I‘m not being led
You might still be hungry, even after you‘ve been fed,
when you’ve been fed stones instead of bread
Those who heal wounds today, have also once bled.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
My heart was broken
Over and over and over again by life
Until I was sure
That life really loves me
Or else it wouldn’t keep on opening me.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Confidence.
The beginning and the end
Of Fulfilment.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Talk to the clouds
As you would talk to a departed friend
As you would write to a distant lover
As you would whisper to your future
Quietly within your heart.
For they are dreams
Gathering on the roof of your destiny
And they shall rain upon you
Or they shall disperse and quietly disappear –
Some are fulfilled, some are not. This is life.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Eternal sunset
Unending dusk
Rolled along the edge of the earth
Creased the Northpole and gave birth to
Eternal sunrise
Never-ending dawn
From dusk to dawn like a painted horizon
At twilight born by a giant drawn.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Tomorrow is not promised
Today is life’s greatest gift
Very soon, daily, it is finished
Tomorrow is not promised
Today alone is the paradigm shift
The experimental drift
The drop and the lift.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
If you create beauty,
Beauty will create you.
If you give birth to a child,
The child will give birth to you.
If you make a mistake,
The mistake will make you.
If you reach for the Highest,
The Highest will reach for you.
And if you look for the Grail,
The Grail will find you.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Paradigm shift
But until the White, Arabian and Asian hearts
Become free of Racism
Towards their Black counterpart…
It‘s just a Greek gift
And until the Black and African mind
Becomes free of Colonial Mentality
Tribalism and Religious enmity…
Paradise is still adrift.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
One of the downsides of seeing through humanity
Is that nothing inspires or excites you anymore
Or fills you with a sense of expectation…
Because you always bear the sad certainty
Within you
Of knowing how things are going to end.
One of the upsides of seeing through humanity
Is that nothing disappoints and shocks you anymore
Or fills you with a sense of hopelessness…
Because you always bear the the quiet recognition
Through experiencing
Of knowing that things always re-start.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
There was an eagle in your eyes
In your gait
In your voice
In your words
In your deeds
In your mind
In your Heart, Daddy –
It was you. Your spirit. Your essence.
That eagle is flown away today
Six years ago
But the arch of its flight is still imprinted
In my memory
Like daylight in the nighttime.
A Comrade in life
And a Comrade in the afterlife.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
In Memoriam:
Comrade Uche Chukwumerije
11.01.1939 – 19.04.2015
Ugo Mba 1 Isuochi
Dike Ogu Ndi Igbo
Convinced Socialist. Proud Panafricanist.
Father. Teacher. Comrade. Enigma.
