ODE TO THE FLOWER

Human beings can be very unjust
Because some are mean and some are blind
But she teaches me to ever trust
In the victory of love true and kind

She flows with the rhythm silently
And subtly sets the tone
She fulfils something for everybody
Until each feels she is their own

She flows, stands, dances, hovers
She softens hunters and strengthens gatherers
She makes Knights of all her lovers
And Kings out of gardeners

She defeats deserts of both soil and heart
She is an oasis all on her own
She awakens new worlds, reawakens that part
Of me that has turned into stone.

Be ever on the look-out for her
Like a watchman from his tower –
Protest her when you see her; thus will you know her:
She who flows is the flower

She opens her heart for all to drink
Who bear the natural thirst,
She expresses what all lovers think
Because she was the first

An irresistible smile is her crown
Radiating unselfishly,
She lifts my spirits when I am down
She gives unceasingly

She arrests with her quiet dignity
She‘s humbly proud, yet vulnerable
She is the salvation of the concept of purity,
Accessible but unsoilable

She is Natural, normal, ordinary
A caring, healing gem
She flows with her lovers’ and guardians’ story
Encourages, comforts, ennobles them

She awakens tears and gentle smiles
Just by being there;
Beautiful above all transient styles,
A beauty always and fair

Her lovely whiff, caught from afar
Releaser of the deepest sighs
She is a mirror of heaven’s star
Lights up my soul and eyes

She’s nature’s victory over human art
Mightier than pen and sword
She speaks deeply to the human heart
Without saying a word

And has one distinct feminine feature:
In her grace lies her power.
She FLOWS with the currents of nature
That’s why she’s called the FLOWER…

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE MOON IS IT

I cherish the sight
I cherish the night
Moon-crowned… moon-found
The Poetry is so profound
That strikes the Deep
Out of its Sleep
When the fortnight is twice over turned
And the Full-Moon has returned.

I hear the lone wolf again
From the stillness of the deep and the pain
Howling from out of my Heart…
Howling from out of my Heart…

The moon…
The moon…

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

AND THERE WAS LIFE

Believe unsanctimoniously
Burn robustly
Brave love. It is all we’ve got.

A tree gnome
Is mightier than his tree
For his tree is but his shadow.

When you serve love
You become a master of the universe.
And cease to be a shadow.

’Tis no cliché
God actually said “Let there be Love”
But we heard let there be light…

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

AND YOU SHALL FIND

Nothing that comes, unspoiled
From the spirit
Is empty

It might take people two decades
Or two centuries
Or two millennia to understand it
But they will

Because, like an immortal light
The deeper the darkness
The brighter the flame
Until, one day
People take notice, stop, and ask…

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

ODE TO POETRY

I’ve been biting like a volcano
Poetry has been crying lava
I’ve been biting hard

Stop! Stop bleeding me! Stop breaking me!
I want your nipple
Your lip, your ruthless restless tongue

Your thigh
And above it, your most tender secret
I want to reveal it, stop starving me.

The eruption was a corruption
Of merciful silence.
You should never have woken me up.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
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DISREGARDING YOURSELF

Do you fear yourself?
Or are you in awe,
In awe of you?
Or do you think yourself
But little and poor
And powerless too?

Think not of yourself
But of your goals
And deepest dreams…
And you will find yourself
Fulfilling even roles
Beyond whole teams.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE CHAMBER WITHIN

The head can forget what it vowed to remember
But the heart remembers even that
Which it vowed to forever forget.

A memory which you want to keep forever
Store in the intuitive base of your heart
The head is curious but sometimes too clever –
Less meddlesome is the heart.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

REAL

I’m tired of writing poems,

I want to be one.

– Che.

IF THERE BE

If there be a she
Where is she?
If there was a she
Where was she?

If there be a he
Which is he?
If there was a he
When was he?

If there be a we
What are we?
If there was a we
Wherefore were we?

If there be an I
Why am I?

If there is goodness in the human race
If there is love in the human heart
If there is hope in the human being
Why are we still not there
Where we once were
When we had goodness and love and hope
In our hearts
On our tongues
And as the work of our hands…?

If I have a friend
Please help me.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE BOOK OF LIFE

You’ve judged too soon
Go, take a second look
Sometimes you’ve got to give a little room for error
’Cause you can’t always be too sure –
Don’t spare yourself a second look
Read it again – life’s just a book.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije