Every flight is a flight of fantasy Every journey is a journey of discovery Every departure is a departure from routine Every arrival is an arrival somewhere in between Every stranger is of a stranger kind Every meeting is a meeting of minds Every parting is a parting of the Red Sea Every greeting is… Wait! Greetings. The greetings Are the closest we’ll come to most humans. Put into them the earnestness of meetings - They are often our sole communions. With eyes, with words, with gestures, With a handshake or an embrace - Greetings in all their textures Help us to feel our human race. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Poems
READY OR NOT
By the time you’re ready for me I’ll be ready for me too I’ll no longer need you to Complete me and hold steady for me. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
CHALLENGE OF THE PRESENT
When they were living It was for them not the past; Now that we are living It is for us also not the past. It is always the present - And it always feels the same; For some it feels like the end, For others like the start, of the game. The future will one day look back And call our present their past - But their present too will hold them back With the same challenges of the past. It always demands bravery Without the benefit of hindsight; To act without knowing if posterity Will prove you wrong or right. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
DOING IS HARDER
Most of us are weak Strong only in theory - To reach the mountain-peak Is easy in a paper story - Never underestimate One week It’s still Seven Days of weary Struggle through prospects bleak To attain the crown of glory. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
TIME IS TOO LONG SOMETIMES
You have to wait a little while to really Get to know people’s character truly If you let them unfold themselves freely Around you they will unravel duly - Yes, they will start with a façade first ideally But the heart, the heart, the heart is unruly It will break rank and show itself verily Eventually, for patience grinds masks cruelly To submission. Truth emerges voluntarily. Not every friend is a friend Not every enemy is an enemy But sometimes you have to wait till the end To recognise each person clearly. Unfortunately by then it might be too late To correct what happened at the gate. You let the wrong person in And kept the wrong person out - O voice within, o voice within, o voice within, Help me to accurately check people out. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
BEWARE OF ECHO CHAMBERS
Beware of echo chambers. People who speak your thoughts Will soothe your loneliness But won’t show you your blind spots. Listen also to those people Who see you completely differently From how you see yourself. Completion seems sometimes unfriendly. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
GO YOUR WAY
Don‘t take everything
That comes your way
For the way has everything
The way will make you lose your way
If you believe everything
And take everything
That the way brings your way
Learn to look away
From the way
When the way
Is not going your way
Know the way
And know your way
And know the difference.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
HELP RHYME
Help comes in its own time And in its own way Often it prefers an irregular rhyme Your tomorrow is its today You hear the echo and miss the chime How loudly did you pray? Treasure the sour bitterness of lime It is sweetness in delay. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
FOREST WALK
A stroll through the curious trees Respectfully quiet to put you at ease What you hear is the noonday breeze Tell us your thoughts, human, if you please. But you hear neither the watching trees Nor the quietly questioning noonday breeze All you know - correct me, if you please - Is that in your heart you simply feel at ease. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
FORGET ME NOT
That deep moment When the grass is calm The gale is spent Nature is bent On being your heart’s balm A busy butterfly Like a restless thought Flutters by Waving hi and goodbye Forget me not Forget me not. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 