Who knows
Better than the nose
How a thing really smells?
Who spies
Clearer than the eyes
Where a thing really dwells?
If your heart
Is your most tender part
Then I am a compass
And you are a chart.
I will always find you
Lovely lass
And encompass you.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Your disgrace
Reflected on my bottom
Wiped with tears across your lost face
Mirrored in anguish ambushed –
Be of good cheer –
The dew
Washes the exposed leaf clean each time
The cock crows again.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
“No war, no peace,” says the warrior, wielder of the sword.
“No justice, no peace,” says the philosopher, wielder of the pen.
“No forgiveness, no peace,” says the lover, wielder of the heart.
“No negotiation, no peace,” says the politician, wielder of diplomacy.
“No prayer, no peace,” says the priest, wielder of religion.
“No forgiveness, no peace,” says the lover, wielder of the heart.
“No invention, no peace,” says the scientist, wielder of formulae.
“No knowledge, no peace,” says the scholar, wielder of intellect.
“No forgiveness, no peace,” says the lover, wielder of the heart.
“No amnesia, no peace,” says the coward, wielder of excuses.
“No memory, no peace,” says the historian, wielder of records.
“No forgiveness, no peace,” says the lover, wielder of the heart.
“No pretence, no peace,” says the actor, wielder of theatrics.
“No harmony, no peace,” says the musician, wielder of song.
“No reflection, no peace,” says the artist, wielder of images.
“No forgiveness, no peace,” says the lover, wielder of the heart.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
It is love.
You cannot
Mathematize it.
It will
Mesmerize
Scandalize
Legalize
Illegalize
And always leave Questions
Behind.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
A little fairy, a lonely elf
All by herself
Hiding in the fields of blue
Quietly watching you
A little baby in your arms
Falls for her charms
Smiles at her and says to her:
Friend, do you live here?
The years will fly past like a sun
Running from the dawn
The child becomes an adult too
Could be me or you
Will saunter past these fields some day,
Eyes fixed on the way
Sees not the elf, hears not her whisper:
You I remember.
Then falls in love, a child is born
That for which we yearn
The adult wonders what it’s saying
And with whom it’s playing
Sees not that beings have blessed their home
Where unseen they roam
For oft a fairy close by whiles
When a baby smiles.
We take our walks, babies in arm
Marvel at their charm
We watch them smile at lonesome grass –
Energy or mass?
Something arrests their attention
Seen by them alone
An elf informs them wistfully:
You too will forget me.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
There is gold
In your blood
Blue in you
And best of all
When you say How do you do
You mean it too –
Your gold I want not
Your blueblood I wish I could wash out
For it would only be a burden –
But you make me lighter
Each time I see how the people’s eyes shine brighter
When you enter the room.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
There is in me a longing
For a place
A longing which no place on earth
Can satisfy
Because I long for Home –
There is in me a yearning
For a love
A yearning which no human love
Can satisfy
Because I yearn for the Light –
But, on the other side of
The mountain peak
There is a woman to whom my
Heart belongs…
But there she is, beyond my reach
Just a tear away –
But I do not know how to cry.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
There is a select few who
Understand how to unite the two
Warring worlds into a peaceful third –
They are the irregularly winged bird
That closes spaces with one sweep
And with a hundred beats doth barely creep
Forward.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
A boy gave to a girl
A string of promises
Each vow was a pearl
And he strung eleven pearls together
On a silver cord
And presented them to her
As a parting gift…
But those who sow must reap.
She gave his string of pearls
To the man she really loved
And he gave it to the woman
He really loved
She gave it to the person
She really loved
Who gave it to the one
Most truly beloved
And so on and on
Until one day
The boy’s string of promises
Found its way
Back to him
Unbroken.
– C.he Chidi Chukwumerije
He who will change something
Must break something
Sang none other
Than the fragile little butterfly…
Wings to unwind a universe.
He who will change something
Must break something
Sang none other
Than the fragile little chicken
To the other struggling egg.
And my mother placed her burning palm
On my heart, asked me to stay…
It was balm, but he who will change
Something must break something
A generation away
Sometimes you just have to
Break away.
The hoe cracked the hearth
The sower smiled
Rebirth cracked the palm kernel of death
Death learned from rebirth
About the quest for a higher birth
The reaper smiled.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 