Kindness starts by Looking people in the eye And welcoming them whole Into your soul. Those who belong Will come into your gaze, Those whose hearts are wrong Will look sideways. I’m not just talking about The outer look - For the story inside will come out Of the soul’s book When honesty, sincerity and kindness Break through dishonest blindness. A kind gaze can be revealing too When the other person’s heart is not true. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Poems
OVERCOMING
Not everyone who tries to kill you will succeed; Your heart might bleed and bleed and bleed and bleed But in the end you will find out you have simply been freed. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
TIMES
There is a time to come
And a time to go
There is a time to stay
And a time to flow
There is a time to help
And a time to ignore
There is a time to open
And a time to close and lock the door.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
THE MATTER
Do you see me, I don’t see me. Do you see you, I don’t see you. Do you see us, I don’t see us. Do you see them, I don’t see them. But do you see it, I see it. It is all I see. The objective, the goal The constructive’s soul. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
DANCE
A little distance
A little resistance
A little dance
A little happenstance
A little chance
A little romance
Balance.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
CHANGING CLOTHES
People are like clothes Sometimes we change them Personalities are like clothes Sometimes we change them Consciousnesses are like clothes Sometimes we change them Places are like clothes Sometimes we change them Inwardly and outwardly For similar reasons And in between changing them We are naked. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
LOVE, LOYALTY AND HONESTY
True love is given automatically
Irresistibly and totally
Without being demanded extraordinarily
Or exclusively.
Loyalty is given freely
Happily, personally and genuinely
Without being prompted forcefully
Or granted guiltily.
Only honesty is voluntary
It’s a choice, it’s not arbitrary
You decide deliberately in the sanctuary
Of your heart to be honest or to the contrary.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
THE UNIMAGINABLE
The unimaginable can happen
And it happens everyday,
The commonplace can cease to happen
And this happens too everyday.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
GRASPING
Why don’t people recognise a great thing And just take it when it comes their way? Without hesitation, without doubting The magic, just join in the game and play? Maybe because it does not always Come in the form we expect and want - Because God’s Ways are not our ways, Our intellect is sharp but our intuition is blunt. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
DIY
Create your own world
Find your own folk
Be intentional, be bold
Be intuitive when you talk.
What comes out of you
Pre-determines
What you will pull to you –
Homogeneity always wins.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 