Upon the fields and meadows
Saw I two black sheep
Alone, together
Feeding, side by side
And then evening was near
The shepherd
Slowly shaved the wool
Off one of them
And led it away
And now when I look into the fields
And meadows
Of my youth
All I see is one black sheep
Grazing alone…
Brother
I still miss you –
Except that the fields and meadows
Have become bare
And the second black sheep is gone too…
And the wind is cool
Upon the mountain-top…
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Love affairs
Whirlwind
Across the desert of loneliness…
Reassuring me that I live.
I’m grateful for every ripe watermelon,
Every mango, every grapefruit, every tangerine,
Every kiwi, pawpaw, and orange, every peach,
Ụdara, every ube, every mmịmị,
Every plum, every berry, Cherry, each date,
Every passionfruit that ever whet my appetite
Suckled on the fingers of my thirst
Stilled my restlessness.
Yet after the storm
Came always the quiet morning
Free of desire,
Full of my heart.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
When I tasted the spliff
Dragged it down to the level
Of my hungry black lips
It was a temptation it could not resist
Heavenwards it soared
With me, its quivering
Stub, on its mind
Where I met higher thoughts.
Write down
Your poems at the height
Of your madness
For after you return
You will not remember anymore
What thoughts those were
That came to you so naturally
When you were high in love.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
A girl arose from bed one morning
And heard the alien call
Of a bird
From an alien country
She looked out of her window
Saw the bird
Hovering in the air, calling…
The girl became confused
For she could strangely understand the bird’s song
And yet knew not its meaning:
The first person to trust me
Is mine…
Sang the bird.
And then the girl’s brother shed his night-gown
And flew out to meet the calling bird – the bird
From an alien country…
And the girl watched them fly away
Two identical birds
To their alien country
The first one to trust me
Is mine.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I have seen
That Evil
Is deep
It has silenced me
For where it nests
Is the noiseless depth
Pay no attention to my words
They are a distraction
If you want to hear my message
Listen to my silence
My words will show you the way into my silence
Where I talk of treachery no words can describe.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Peoples of different origins
Colonised my heart
And raised therein an edifice
Of loneliness
And treasured dreams…
Look now at the liquid mountains
Luminous and eternal
Which have become my spirit’s
Backbone
Liquid mountains of moving light…
When I say I love you
I mean it…
When I say I love you
I mean it…
When I say I love you
I mean it…
Inside each liquid mountain
Within each luminous elevation
Is a heart
Of gold, of fire, of love…
So love me forever, my dear.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
When a flower blossoms
We know
That it has been touched by
The ray
When a woman blossoms
We know
That she has been touched by
The ray
The beautiful ray.
When a writer is touched by
The ray
The whole world blossoms.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
If we could see the future, what would be its past?
If we could see the future, would we change the present?
And would we then see the new future that arises out of that?
If we could see the future, would it still be the future,
or would we have turned it into the past?
And what would the future then be?
I guess we can never really see the future…
The present is the future.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Catch the song
Of the bird
And sing it with a human voice
And the bird
Is yours –
Catch the songbird
And cage it in your house,
Yet you have it not,
Neither bird nor song –
Love your woman
For what she is
And she will always treasure you
Very specially
Inside her heart and home…
This was the song
That pierced my being
As we stood upon the peak
Of Falkenstein.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
The world is changing under your watch
There is hatred abroad, fear is at home
Never was it easier to manipulate the future
Crowds of boomerangs are rushing out of the past
Back to the present
When events take this turn, sharply
When all the resentments flower
When cultivated prejudices become seasoned culture
All that’s needed is a reason, a trigger, a spark
There is no hiding place
Everyone has got a grudge to prove
The dark hearts will plunge the world into chaos
And watch the good people tear themselves to pieces
– Who will rise above their shadow
And solve a paradox?
Everybody has been aching for the final conflict
Woe betide us
When it finally comes upon us.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 