It is not a joke;
But everyone is laughing
As though it were…
Early in the morning
I can hear voices whispering
Before dawn…
But when I peered out through the window
I saw nothing
Yet heard something
Which sounded like whispering voices
Talking to me
Telling me what to write
And I write without complaint
Even though the pain is sometimes astronomical –
Yet I write.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I won’t forget
Every thought I met
Blowing in the breeze
Resting beneath the trees
And mirrored on each lake
Asleep or awake
Before which we waited
And silently contemplated
Another wonderful day
Of this lovely holiday…
Thoughts that grow
Like flowers in the meadow
And time after time
Like a recurrent rhyme
Will yield new fruit
And like a Magic flute
Even as I age
Page after page
Will always light the light
Of Insight.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije. (Poems Inspired By The Lake District)
In heaven
I saw birds
Even blackbirds
So I wrote
This poem
Which is just words
And when I was done
And looked up
It was an empty sky.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
My blood is blue river today
Every thought of you beknights me
Makes me feel like royalty
For thou art my queen…
If I strode across mountains
They would prostrate before my will
Proud to be footstool
To the queen’s lover
Naughty me
What a delicious secret
I feel like King Aka the Thirst
For I secretly drink from the queen’s fountains
My blood is blue river today
When it runs into you
You sigh…
At night I am thine king.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
When birds touch heaven
All we hear is
Music
And the music
Melts away the frozen tears
In my eyes
And my heart aches for you
But what is done is gone
Heaven and bird and wishing star
Where are you?
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
When it’s raining
Even if it’s raining pain
Put a bucket out and drink up
It might never rain again –
When it rained
Some weeks ago
A glorious thunder, a waterfall from heaven
I envied the child I once was
Who ran naked in the rain…
Come run with me, my heart called to me
In the rain I stood, adult but child again
And raised my hands, even though memory caused me pain
And took again a shower in the rain
Whilst my eyes rained tears unto my thongue
I remembered the land of childhood, where I belong
An unforgotten song.
Drink while it’s raining
Swim while it’s flowing
Cry while it’s hurting
It might never rain again –
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
When the rock was walking stoically
Through the mountain of time I was
On its back, and thought the ground was still
Beneath my running legs –
Restless was my heart
For I felt yours beating in it
And mighty were the loud congas
Drumming out my thoughts.
Yet there is one quiet thought
Too deep to be breached
Too quiet to be heard
By any but me.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I am another blackbird
I want to fly high up in the sky
Shy and bold
Freed and loved
Here and there and
Everywhere.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I remember watching
When I was a little boy
Hamlet
In my father’s bedroom
By my father’s side
He was munching on Green Vegetables
And I was observing
Sometimes him
And sometimes the television…
And he said:
This is the mystery.
You know… You see…
Why didn’t he do it at that moment?
Or
If he knew that he could not do it
Why did he try to begin at all
To obey his father’s call to action??
He shook his head
And munched away coolly
Upon his Green Vegetables…
And I was trying to figure out
If he was asking me a question
Or giving me an answer…
(for Daddy)
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Whatever you do
Do it with love
Or you will die without love…
Whatever you do
Do it with love
Or you will be buried without love
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 