Poems

RUNNING WATERS

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

The story you told in the west
Is not identical
With the laughter you laughed in the north
Nor with the song you sang in the south
Nor with the thoughts you expressed in the east…

The language you spoke on the mountain
Is very different
From the tongue you mouthed in the valley
And from the violins you bowed through the woods
And the ballad you composed upon the blue-green meadows…

The roar you let out as you charged past us
Has a different meaning
From the groan the desert drew out of you;
And the whisper which you sighed in this grateful heart
Is not the same cry with which you flow into the sea.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

CLOSED CYCLES

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

You start. I’m scared, my friend,
Of finding the floor with my feet first
They might lead me astray

Doubleback. The start is the end
Why quench your longing with a thirst
That might never go away?

It’s hard to move
When you move together
One has to receive, and one has to give
Together in opposite directions

Well I can’t prove
If we do or don’t belong together
But cycles close, something had to give
And unmasked all our pretensions.

Missed opportunities
Mixed opportunities.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE INNER ROSE

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

Beware of those
Who like the wind does
To the petals of the rose

Like the mind blows
The poetry out of the prose
– Those who sense

The source of your strength
And work only to dent
And take away your self-confidence.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

DIGNITY

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He threw all the standard colourful
Discriminatory bigot remarks and innuendo
At me, then stepped back with a smirk
And waited to see it shame and hurt me

I knew this one had run out of arguments
And was fishing for the killer-blow
So I let it pass by without contact or impact
And leaned back and watched it confuse and hurt him

Some lines of attack grow old and stale
But some people just don’t get it
I speak back when speaking back will hurt you
And I ignore it when ignoring it will hurt you

Once upon a time, a man was humiliated
With fear and the theft of his dignity
But before he died, he whispered to me – You
Are my victory. Let my history be a lesson to you

Never go down without a fight. Never beg
For mercy when the killer points his gun
If they’re fair to you, be fair to them
But if they hurt you unprovoked – always always always

Somewhere
Someday
Somehow
Hurt them back.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

FAINTHEARTEDNESS

~ Che ~ 12 Comments

There is a time, a moment
To say yes –
You feel it, you know it, you just
Have to say it

Yet you drown it in conversation
Puncture it with rhetoric
Hang a cloud of Why over it
Betray it with a question mark, and then fall silent

There is a time, a moment to
Say yes – only the brave
Will grasp it. The fainthearted
Will run away into a familiar point of view

Every meeting is a thing of beauty
Everything that confuses you and
Throws you off-balance is a gift from life
Knocking on the door of a greater you.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE IDEA, NOT THE PERSON

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

Those who subscribe to an idea
Usually flock around one
Who embodies that idea

The leader is the one whose activity
Awakens or keeps alive in the others
The spirit of the goal, and the belief

That the goal will be attained.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

LINKS IN CHAINS

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

There is someone, higher up
Who births and breathes into the ethers
One new poem everyday

In one of the poems he gave away
He expressed the wish, the urge
That far far far away

On the distant earth another poet
Would also start to do the same
And his wish came true

It may sound strange to you
But sometimes you simply are
Another person’s replica

Just by being yourself.
Life extends its boundaries
By replicating its core.

No matter what you think, no matter
What you know, of one thing be sure
There is always something more.

And when you think you created something
The blueprint was created by another
Whose path you’ll never cross

But his work lives in you, and a thousand
Years from now, another will happen upon
This thought you are thinking now

And he will think it is his original idea
And will bring it to what he thinks is
Fruition, and yet is just another seed.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

DEATH IS UNENDING

~ Che

There is death
Without dying
Death of old things
Of shedding old feelings

You become a ghost
Of your former self –
Restless in peace
Because you’ve got so much to do.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

SOCIAL INSECURITY

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

A child will fall ill today
His parents will weep
Not because the child is ill
But because there is no safety net
To catch the weak and defenceless
In the land of the Niger and the Benue

Every fall is a fall
Through the cracks
Down to the rock bottom
Your savings alone might save you until
Your savings are gone – then, if you have
No rich family or friends, citizen you’re done

A man will lose his job today
A woman will lose her home tonight
Do not tell them not to weep
For they’re falling and there’s no safety net
To catch the weak and the helpless
In the land of the Niger and the Benue.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije 

SURVIVAL

~ Che ~ 4 Comments

What don’t I know
About you is what
I silently ask myself
Each time you ask me
What I’m thinking
As I think about you

How many wars
Have you fought, won and lost?
How many lives have
You taken, how many given?
How much hunger did you endure
To nourish so much anger?

How many loves have pierced you?
How many wounds are
Dripping a trail back to
How many acts of survival?
All I see is the smile in your eyes
And the hope in your heart.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.