Though disgraced
I will not lose my face
I will raise it
that the sun
may shine on me.
Every fibre of my being
Every corner of my soul
Every song of my spirit
Will become new –
for the flames of the sun
have killed me.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Literature murders poetry
Fine Arts murders art
Education murders the spirit
The intellect stands victorious over the intuition
The dead over the living
The darkness over the light
Human is dead for now
Tomorrow human will die the greater death.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Suffer not the young with belief in their ignorance
Thinking only the old can with wisdom be soaked
Watch: and see kids give to hidden truths substance
For what is a child but an adult cloaked
And seek not in the old for the seat of all staleness
Sure that, with youth passed, all vigour is lost
Look past the frame at a quicker, higher freshness
For what is an adult but a child unveiled
The child is the parent of the out-born adult
The adult is the parent of the in-born child
For up looks the earthling and up looks the moonling
And each sees nothing but the other in the skies
So suffer not greatness with the label of complexity
Nor suffer ordinariness with the verdict of the rejected
For where the great and the ordinary meet, simplicity
Is born, adult and child unite, and Perfection is reflected.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
You said you were coming
I said I’d be waiting
You said you wouldn’t be long gone
I said I’d be waiting
You said it was only temporary
I said I’d be waiting…
Nine breaths
Nine years
Nine life-times
And I’m still waiting.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Where are you?
There is a song in my head
Yearning to be sung to you
There is a thirst in my Soul
Waiting to be quenched by you
There is a smile in my heart
Longing to be smiled at you
So where are you?
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I strive
Therefore I am
I am not
Therefore I strive
Striving is the beginning
And striving is the end
And when the end is over
And I am over with striving
I shall ascend
A smile on my lips
Because the end is the beginning
And the beginning is the end
So long as I am the made
And not the Maker
Besides “Dawn can never be reached
Save by the path of night”*
And there again I shall strive again
For striving is living is joy.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
(*Kahlil Gibran)
Give me nightrain
Or give me pain
Still will I smile and smile again
Bring me sunshine
Or bring me ease
Still will I cry and never cease.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
When they tempt me
I won’t lie
When they hurt me
I won’t cry
When they free me
I won’t fly
And when they kill me
I won’t die
But will simply continue with my roam
Until I see what of my dream has become
And then I will smile, spread my wings and fly away home.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
You made me a thousand promises
And heartlessly broke them all
But the Moment I will know the greatest sorrow
Is when you break that one vow
Which you solemnly made to yourself.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Two Little birds
sitting on a tree
one flies away, one hops down
yet they both have wings
Two Little men
working in the fields
one is alive and one is dead
yet they are both in life
It is the joy of laughing that makes me laugh
not the funniness of your jokes
It is the wit of my words that makes you laugh
not the joy of laughing
It is the joy of living that makes me live
not the fear of dying
It is the fear of dying that attaches you to life
not the joy of living
Two Little rabbits
facing Mother-Wolf
one is scuttling and one is whining
yet they both have feet.
Signals.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 