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
SIGNALS
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
CHANGE
Today we play on these strings, tomorrow
We play on different strings…
Today we hang from these beads, tomorrow
We hang from different beads
Today man swings to these beats, tomorrow
He changes to the swing of different beats;
And the lutes we finger are the same
Yet different, for the strings they hold
Have become different with time
Because every new day a new thing brings
And different hearts at different points will beat
On different strings.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
LET IT BE LOVE
When a flower is touched by the rays of the morning sun, it opens up, touched by love; and one says that the opening was done in love because it was opened in the daytime, by the light.
But when a flower opens up in the night, it too might have been opened up by the light, the soft moonlight or the warm embrace of a gentle night wherein lives quietly love too. For some flowers love the day and some flowers bloom at night.
But a brutal Hand, a treacherous laugh, a cruel hungry storm, will not wait for day or night; it will prise open its stolen prize, and pride will pay a heavy Price, for it will be broken. So, let it be love, dear. Because nature wants to take her course, not give her curse.
At the right time
In the right way
In all simplicity and naturalness
Gentleness and in trust
My dear Child, let it be Love.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
OUR BOUNDARIES
You don’t see yourself, because you are yourself and for you that is the normal, natural, only, right and best way and thing to be. You don’t sense or recognise or take cognisance of the thought or perception that you could ‘improve’, ‘change’ or grow into something or someone ‘better’. Your limits are perceived by you as being the limits, borders and boundaries of absolute reality.
The most fundamental first step on the path to self-awareness is the accrual of the recognition that there is a difference between your reality and absolute reality. And between your reality and everybody else’s realities. And between everybody else’s realities and absolute reality.
I have gone too far. ‘Absolute Reality’ is a key term. First you have to realise – i.e. internalise through repeated experiencing – that there is a difference between yours and others’ realities. The next step is considering whether there is an ‘Absolute Reality’ different from and beyond yours and those of others, one within which every consciousness and reality finds resolution, be it in dissolution or in elevation and completion. Third is the recognition that your reality can grow towards Absolute Reality without ever reaching it, for that is the character of the absolute – it forever draws you onwards.
With the recognition that your consciousness is your perception is your reality is changeable comes the realisation that it can also grow away from Absolute Reality, i.e. shrink and become smaller, and its new boundaries become again also the limits of your perception, your consciousness, your reality. We see and live things really according to how we inwardly are. Understanding is a boundary. We say things like “The boundaries of our understanding”, whereas we should probably say instead “The understanding of our boundaries”, or better still: “Our understandings are our boundaries”.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
A FRIEND CALLED LONELY
Lonely becomes your friend
And you marvel
At his eloquence, deep and complex
Gnawing at your heart
Seeking the answers
Only you can give to him
To set him free.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
LIFE COMES IN CHAPTERS
Kidnapped
Is there still hope for me?
The sun sets sadly as slowly as he can
By the last light of day
Find a way
Did you see the baby that was stolen?
Did you see the boy that was broken?
However hard you look, you will see
No resemblance at all between them and
The man now woken, now walking.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
TEILE DICH MIT MIR
Du bist wie Wasser
Du fließt in die Menschen widerstandslos hinein
Und veranlasst, daß sie sich Dir mit-teilen
Und das Mitgeteilte nimmst Du mit als Dein neues Teil
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
MUSIC PEOPLE
MUSIC
PEOPLE
LANGUAGE
UNDERSTOOD
FOR ONE
MOMENT
ONE MANKIND
ONE SPIRIT
1 LOVE.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
ANNELIESE 1927-2014
Sie war knapp 87 Jahre alt
Da lag sie, an dünnen Schläuchen verkoppelt
Aber ihre Augen sprachen mit mir
Wir wussten beide, es war das letzte Mal
Diesseits.
Ihre Enkelin, meine Frau, streichelte ihre Stirn
Ihre alte, verdorrte Hand…
Ihr Sohn, Onkel meiner Frau, scherzte mit ihr
Tapfer lächelte sie schwach, sanft…
Ich dachte nach.
Vor zwei Monaten saßen wir noch an ihrem Küchentisch
In Kleinheppach – sie, ich und meine Frau
Sprachen über Gott und die Welt.
„Soll ich dir etwas aus der Bibel vorlesen?“
Fragte ich sie jetzt. Neben dem Bettfuß lag eine.
Jetzt schmunzelte sie zart, flüsterte schwäbisch:
„Was willsch mer denn vorläse?“
Ich schlug auf, suchte kurz, fing an:
„Der Herr ist mein Hirte, mir wird nichts mangeln…“
Und sie fing an,… zu weinen.
Ihre alte Zimmernachbarin fühlte sich gestört
Sie war noch nicht so weit –
Anneliese wollte nicht, daß wir gehen
Aber es wurde spät, sie müde – Und ich drehte mich ein letztes
Mal zu ihr, verabschiedete mich mit unserem üblichen Gruß:
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 