Poems

STILL SEEKING THE FUTURE

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

I see
Wavering eyes
Tied around my ankles
Tightly beaded the masquerade stumbles

The drums think it is a dance and praise on
The familiar djini pokes his feathered skull
Out of the future – here I am!
Leaden feet leading until again

We stand on the river bank…
Sorry, where exactly?
We have been singing for the boat
Since time immemorial –

Unreversedly.

The mamiwater’s melodious silence answers us

Yet our ancestors did not lie
When they reassured us that the only
Real things are the invisible ones
Who refuse to see us.

If there be no boat
How shall the river
Cross us over
Onto the promised sand?

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

OUR HOUSE

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A smile is a gift-wrapped heart
A heart is an unspoken smile
You grow on me

Windows open up too
A transparent pane of glass
I see you through

Houses head upward
But we speak one tongue
This time. We change hearts
Like we change lanes –
We grow on us.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

MISSING THE MARK

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Some wounds cannot heal
Don’t open them for they are
Like the clock that ticks only forward

How ever often the cycle closes
Yet the wound still bleeds
Because I saw into your mind

All the I’m sorrys in this world
Only make it worse
We met, it seems, just to miss.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE BREAK-UP

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The worst pain I ever felt
Was once when I embraced someone
And my embrace, she said,
Made her think of someone else.

Some things you should keep to yourself,
Yet it’s better when they’re spoken out
And it’s best of all when they hurt like hell.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

SHUT UP, MAN

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Women are so serious, you know
There’s a way she looks at you sometimes
From beneath her eyelids
And you know
She’s taking a second look
Because you passed the first test

Then even your heart skips a beat
You don’t want to fail the test
But you don’t want to pass it either
Oh how you want to pass it! Oh no
Oh yes – oh, shut up! Men are pigs.

Just be grateful for whatever she gives you
And try not to mess it up too much
You don’t deserve it anyway.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THROUGH CHEQUERED FIELDS

~ Che ~ 9 Comments

There’s a woman I met
When the night was dark and long
And she walked, she walked along
Alongside me…

And she walked and walked with me
Through fields of chequered thoughts
And she said, she said everyday to me:
We belong together…

Together, wherever you go
Together, wherever you are
Together, however life fares
Together we walk
Where fears are hard to hide
She walks within my heart, golden torch bearer
And love forever mine.

I say it everyday to her:
Thank you, Love
But all she does, when all is grey
Is walk, she walks within my heart.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

TREES ARE

~ Che ~ 4 Comments

yellowgreen palm 2

A beautiful green palm-tree
Not the dark green but the bright yellow-green
That gleams in the day-light sheen
Against the azure-blue canvass of heaven, sky and a dream
An awaking dream; am I awake or do I dream?
I could almost be another green palm-tree.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

AGAIN I DREAMT I WAS UNSATISFIED

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

I looked around and thought
No, this too is not my home
It’s time to move on

Then a voice from inside me asked
Where then is your home?
How long will you keep on
Moving on?

And I answered: I do not know.
I do not remember my home
But when I get there
I will know it –
That is why I keep on moving on.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

PARTING

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In the tears in his eyes I saw the question
What will happen to her
When I am gone?

There was a tenderness about the way
He looked at her, spoke to her
Touched her arm with every third word

And his eyes that looked into the distance
Were not gazing back at their past
Or wondering about his afterlife

They were looking into her future and marvelling
At the fact that life goes on
Even when you’re gone.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

GUIDANCE

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

There is a certain guidance
In our lives…
Birth was not the beginning
Death is not the end
If you remembered your beginning
You would understand why
Your path is the way it is
And why your end will be
The way it’s going to be…

There is a certain guidance
In our lives…
The inner voice has something to say
Echo of Creation’s prod
You do not heed your inner voice
Because you do not know
What you are supposed to be
You are confused by what you see
And cling to the wrong thoughts…

There is a certain guidance
Anchored in your inner voice…
You have to go the whole path
Only then will you reach
The end of your suffering
The beginning of your joy.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije