SELF-RESTRAINT

Just because it’s available
Doesn’t mean you should take it;
Just because it’s achievable
Doesn’t mean you should make it;
Just because it’s vulnerable
Doesn’t mean you should break it;
Just because it’s uncomfortable
Doesn’t mean you should fake it;
Just because it’s unshakeable
Doesn’t mean you should shake it;
Just because it’s accessible
Doesn’t mean you should wake it;
Just because it’s expendable
Doesn’t mean you should stake it;
Just because it’s edible
Doesn’t mean you should bake it.

Some things you just leave as they are.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

LICENCE TO LAUGH

Learn to bear your pain in aloneness,
But don’t bear your aloneness in pain.
Aloneness should bring relief from stress,
Should help you inner peace to attain.

Being alone with your sorrow is sad;
Share your aloneness instead with your gladness.
Seclusion allows the Healing Power of GOD
to save you from overstimulation and madness.

And you will be born anew in silence,
For aloneness is the mother of transformation.
And joy shall be your portion and your licence
To laugh again, in you a flame of Devotion.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

STRANGE WAYFELLOWS

People are already on a path when you meet them,
On their own path, with their own mission.
You think they’re walking with you, but then
Suddenly they jump off at some junction.
As strange and disorienting as it seems to you,
The truth is that it was not a new decision
That they took. They were never really with you,
They were always going in their own direction.
You were just entertainment along the way
Or brief company, and victim of an illusion.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the Inner river

IT’S A HUMAN HEART

It’s winter
You’ll have warmer days
And you’ll have colder days
But they’ll all be cold.

It’s a human heart
You’ll have clearer days
And you’ll have uncertain moments
But still, be bold.

It’s an Earth life
You came to cry
And you came to laugh
And maybe grow old.

The people you love the most
Will cause you the most pain
And yet they’re the only ones
Your heart will want to hold.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

SOMEONE THAT LOVES YOU

To have someone that loves you,
Really loves you, is the most beautiful thing,
The most special thing, that can happen to you -
Nothing can describe it, not even a ring.

It is a special gift from God reaching you
Through the agency of another human’s devotion -
Devotion to you, surrender to you,
Service to you, support of you,
Love for you, care towards you,
Honesty with you, dedication to you,
Joyful natural voluntary sacrifice to and for you,
Giving you dignity and protection
And bringing you elevation and elation.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THE VAST DISTANCE

The deepest form of intimacy
is the sharing of truth.
Sex is not the highest form of intimacy -
Honesty is. No sleuth
can penetrate a false heart of lies.
No compass can navigate
the vast distance opened up by lies
that keeps hearts separate.

This distance cannot be closed by vicinity -
This distance can only be closed by veracity.


Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THROUGH HONESTY

Don’t be ashamed
Pour it all out
The heart is tamed
and freed from doubt
by the bravery of honesty.

Let those that hurt you
continue to mock you
It still cannot stop you
from healing through honesty
and growing through adversity.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

MAY YOU

May you grow
Like the flowers you love so much

May you sow
Seeds of fruits that nourish as such

May you glow
Under the purity of a true lover’s touch

May you know
Honesty to which you can safely clutch.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

WOUNDED TERRAIN

I‘m riding on the train
And riding through my pain
When I’m done if I’m still sane
I won’t come this way again.

The experience is a strain
On my heart and on my brain
Riding through wounded terrain
Where my trust was slain.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

WITHOUT A TRACE

There was once a person
I once knew her for a short while
I don’t know what happened to her
Or who she became or what lifestyle
I have no idea where she is now
I never discovered where she went to
Or who she mixed herself up with, if any
If she still exists, what she’s going through
But she made my heart childlike
Before she suddenly disappeared
Without a trace -

I pray to God, Who knows it all,
To always be with her wherever she is
And give her protection, progress and peace
And guide her to a beautiful place
Full of flowers, true love, honesty and bliss.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river