She can’t have the one she wants
So she loves a thousand in his stead
And leaves broken hearts in her wake
He can’t own his one true love
So he seeks her in a thousand others
Many broken mirrors of the one he can’t take
They stand on opposite sides of the lake
My oh my; their hearts, how they ache
Unable in the salty water their thirst to slake.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
Joy is my elixir
Sorrow is my muse
When one is not there
The other I use
The mountain-top of poverty
Will give you a clear view
Into the character of humanity
And make a sage of you
The dark depths of wealth
Will expose you to propensity
To indulge in all things that tempt
And to understand vanity
You will see needy nations
Full of natural born resources
Of lazy corrupted wasted generations
Raining on each other backward curses
You will see greedy nations
With the mastery of bright inventions
Choose instead to perfect division
And to invent and sell deadly weapons
You will see great minds
Of science, religion and philosophy
Brainwashing weaker minds
Into believing everyone different is their enemy
You will feel the cold power of politics
In high and low places
And learn to respect the simplest tricks
For they win the most complex races
You will despair and turn to the dark side
And hear its mocking laughter
You will look for the light far and wide
And severity will be its answer
Illness will teach you
That your body is not all of you
There is eternal life inside of you
It is the real you
And you will learn from disgrace
How fickle are our human ways
When you’re up they’re quick to praise
And quick to damn you in your fallen days
Wonder above wonder
The flight of technology
Cannot take you any further
Than truth, hope and simplicity
Trust is still a riddle
Treachery a talking drum
Death still waits in the middle
Of the life you can’t escape from
Only love, only love will understand
And bring you strength and succour
Even as it holds in its tender hand
A little joy, a little sorrow
The power to open our eyes
To the little acts of kindness
That tower above parochial ties
And cure the heart of its blindness
To civilise joy with purpose
And pacify pain with message
For just as poetry elevates prose
Goodness preserves youth in age
Some bend the word
To achieve selfish aims
Diplomacy becomes their sword
So who are we to blame?
Joy is my elixir
Sorrow is my muse
When one is not there
The other I use.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
I heard a soft cry in the night
And knew not where it came from
Through the open window
It floated in on a warm summer’s night
Just one cry, soft and intense
And short it shuddered the night
Like a single pulse of night’s heartbeat
Swallowed up in echoless suspense
I knew not if it was a cry of pain
A cry for help, of fear or of liberty
Or if it was a cry of crowned ecstasy
Of one in pleasure and passion lain
It spoke of terror and sang of delight
A mystery that revealed neither where nor why
All I knew was that it was the soft cry
Of some woman’s voice in the night.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
Quietness nay silence
Like a virginal victim of violence
Was broken by a passing train in the night
Lonely and out of sight.
I won’t go near the window
Why reopen sorrow?
Let it pass by like a train in the distance
Heralding a second chance.
Night breathes, asleep
Silence sinks into ethereal deep
None shall stir until the dawn doth break
Only I – why am I still awake?
If I were clairvoyant, I would swear
There is somebody with me here
In that quiet hour when night is day
Spirits come out to play.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
You become yourself
When you stop caring
What others think
You become strong
When you stop caring
What others think
You become calm
When you stop caring
What others think
You become kind
You become clear
You become, simply, you.
It’s that simple
Brave one,
It’s that simple.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
Seven seals locked Pandora’s box
But some clever mind surely
Was on hand to break me free
Now he’s running from me
I want you, baby. It’s redemption time
Outrun dawn? It’s time has come
Strip down and face the reggae trumpet
Natty dread rise again, too much hypocrisy
Sweet is the weight that falls off your shoulders
When you stop fearing to speak your mind.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 