Holding on to peace dream
While staring down
The barrel of a gun!
Staring down the gun!
The gun is trembling with fear
How many bullets are needed
To shoot down peace?
The gun bucks!
The clock stops!
Peace is my song.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Poems
THE FIRE WITHIN
Life
The bud struggling with itself
Longing to burst into flower
And sacrifice herself to the light
Nations locked in inner turmoil
Searching for the other half
Of the yellow sun
People thirsting for freedom
And then a Cadillac rolls past
A homeless person under the bridge
Their eyes meet in shock of recognition
They are the same
Or soon will be.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
SUCCESS AND FAILURE
She had a promising career ahead
Of her but she lost that fire
And whether or not she found herself instead along the way
Is a subject of debate amongst her
Observers. She is different of late –
And then we all sat down and spoke again
About What is truly the Aim of Life.
Career? Money? Power? Fame? Or the search for God?…
Peace of mind? Is it mental and physical health? –
Love? Family? Travel? And experiencing?
Because we all go out the same way we came in
With hearts full of hopes and regrets.
–Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
TAKE ME
Yes I’m a thief
I steal your heart
And you love it
And everytime I return it to you
You weep bitterly
And beg me to rob you again.
Beg harder.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
THE MARRIAGE
A woman loved a man
And a man loved a woman
They vowed the sacred vow:
Marriage.
Then the woman balked and
Suddenly decided to ask her brother
First… –
She asked him
And he promised to give her the answer
The next day
For he was baffled by the question.
Then he went to a wise man
And questioned him thus:
“Please, Sir, if your sister asks you whether
She ought to marry a man whom
She says she loves,
What would you tell her?”
The sage studied the man’s features thoughtfully
For a while, then with an introspective look
Said:
“I would tell her not to marry him.”
“What reason would you give her for this, Sir?”
“Truly, I would give her anything
But the true reason,
For that would render it meaningless.”
“And what, Sir, is the true reason?”
“Marriage is a sacred, mysterious bond which,
Once taken,
Is embedded forever in the eternal Silence!
It therefore concerns only three:
The man, the woman and the Creator!
Once one of these two humans
Requires the opinion of a third human
To take this step
Then he or she is not yet ready
For Marriage!”
And so, the next day
When the man’s sister came for an answer
He told her mysteriously
Wisely nodding his head:
“My sister, in your best interest
I advice you not to marry
Your fiancé.
But ask me not why. Just believe me.”
She became destabilized and confused, very…
For she loved her fiancé
Excruciatingly.
But she had her own restless, defiant sage
In her own heart too;
And she decided that her brother was wrong
She went ahead and married her loved one
Resolutely, calmly
Proudly.
Wondering how she could ever have doubted
Or asked a third person,
A stranger to their love.
Invited to her wedding soon after
Her surprised brother,
On arriving
And meeting her fiancé for the first time,
Suddenly became deeply confused…
And now he addressed his sister’s laughing husband again:
“You?… You!
Incredible!
But I thought you told me
To tell my sister not to marry you?”
But the sage laughed
And said
In a voice full of respect:
“It turns out that my wife
In the end
Believed her heart
More than she believed the words
Of the forbidden third human…
Because she loves me.”
And, so saying,
The young sage went home joyfully
With his wise new wife.
-Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
INTIMATE ENEMIES
A day
Is a long way to travel
A truth
Is a deep lie to unravel
A kiss
Is a message of sorts
Friendship is a breaching
Of the law of torts
Intimacy is most intense
When you and your enemy
Break down each others’ defence.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
MY FRIENDS
My friends are the improbable people
The ones you wouldn’t expect
Who never visit or party with me
Yet always show me respect
Who hide in the faceless crowd
And put in a good word for me
Who demand of me not company
But that I walk the path before me
Who even when we quarrel
Still never will betray me
Who tell me my failings to my face
But keep my secrets safely
Because I do the same for them
It is the way of friendship
The friends you rarely see me with
Are the ones you shouldn’t mess with.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
DAWN
I feel dawn
Like a song
I hear
Not with an outer ear
Like a light
Long before rosy twilight
Like an intuition
A budding perception
A forgetting
And a remembering
Like new birth
Upon the earth.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
SUNRISE AT WORLD’S END
Wait, morning wind
Wait for my awakening
For I bring a sun
Today shall be another day
Of the same old depressing news
Of hatred, xenophobia, corruption and wars
If I didn’t have this sunlight
Rising daily in my soul
I would think the world were ending
Now my sun is risen
Now rise too, my morning wind
For the old world is ending.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
TIME STANDS STILL
Only a few days after
And already, that magical laughter
Like a wall-painting, hanging in time
Over there, at the back of my mind…
I turn around with thoughtful eyes:
Time stands still; ’tis the spirit that flies.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 