I saw hope, lost
On the hills, amnesiac
And she was
Looking for hope.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Poetry
FUNDAMENT
Let us be a little quiet
For the night is quiet
And still are our thoughts
That hurry on ahead of us
And in the quietness, let us
Reach each into the other
Let us for one moment be
Each a visitor within the other
Let us touch the fundamental thought
Something that is valid
On every plane, in every world
On every earth, in every Beyond
Something that is true in life
And true in death, true in hell
And true in heaven – the one thing
That is always true, everywhere.
The essence of our humanity
The substance of our spirit
The kingdom within, joy, gratitude
Simplicity, honesty, love. Especially, love.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
BITTER
Do you know that never-ending road?
Do you know that ever-increasing load?
Do you know that pain when you receive pain?
Do you know that pain when you give pain?
Do you know that quarrel that can’t be settled?
Are you sore? Bitter? Embattled?
Do you want to hurt them back?
And hurt each time you hurt them back?
How elusive it is, no matter where you look
The last page stays missing in a riddled book
Vengeance will drive you to the ends of the earth
But won’t show you the way back to your hearth.
Revenge is its very own bittersweet revenge
The irony of the avenger – cruel, sad and strange:
To be trapped, a victim of your own vendetta
And wonder why it still doesn’t make you feel better.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
A BUTTERFLY SHOULD LEAVE ITS COCOON BEHIND
I love you Baby
But sometimes Love
Is not enough to make Lohengrin stay.
Don’t knock on the door
Of the Unknown, if you don’t
Want to be overtaken by the Unknown.
But if you must, you must
Even when the line you have crossed
Is the boundary of trust.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
DON’T READ ME
READ YOU.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
EVERYONE
Everyone is a little deaf
To some other person
A little blind
To some very important lesson
A little dumb
And someone’s fool
And a little numb
And sometimes a little too cool.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
LOVING BOTH
Just like on quiet stealthy
Hesitant feet
Autumn circles and stalks
Summer’s heat
My thoughts reminisce
My heart’s sweet defeat
My dreams learn to become
Silent and discrete
’Twas never love
That broke a heart
Love never was spurned
That understood the art
Of stoking desire
By slaking its thirst
And stoking desire
By letting it thirst
And knowing the difference
Between the two
Is loving Summer
And Autumn too.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
PASSING LOOK
A blind man walked into the busy tram
His cane tapped audibly on the wall
Of many a closed mind –
There was an unsteady way he shuffled about
Stumbled, and then clutched the railing
Without letting go of his staff, still swaying
In his other hand three polyethylene bags
Full of his grocery – I tried but
Could not read the look on his calm face.
I hate it when the conversations die,
He must be thinking, I’m thinking
As the whole tram stared at him
But he could not stare back.
Two stops later, he gingerly tapped his way
Out of the tram, his face calm, illegible.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
FALLEN THROUGH THE CRACKS
Originally I used to cover my face
I was new to the street
A freshly fallen angel –
Would old friends pass this way
And recognise me? Old colleagues?
Old neighbours with whom I shared
A beer and a philosophical hour
Reflecting on the vicissitudes of life
The changing destinies of human lives
Society, politics, the role of science in
Religion, male jokes about women
And feeling entitled to be fortunate.
Will they recognise me now, when
They pass this way and hurry past the
Wretched beggar on the street corner
Maybe throw him a coin but avoid his intrusive eyes?
Opposites don’t match, is their marching song
Did they recognise me in me?
But I don’t avoid their eyes anymore
The eyes of my yesterday
Not anymore
Not anymore.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
SING OF GREEN
Sing of green
For soon it’ll be gone to dust
A memory of autumn’s ancestor
Saying I used to know a lass
And her name was Summer
Yet look underneath her smile
Yes I mean her brightest smile
Where a shadow sweet as secret sorrow
Suckled on her honey lips
And read my thoughts of you
Then sing with me, sing of green
From the caverns of throat
Dry hoarse tears, from depths of wrong
And right, let the hordes of your
Passion shout with song!
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
