ERTRAG

Ein gesprochenes Wort
Soll wie eine reife Frucht sein
Die fallen muß –

Ansonsten
Halte es noch eine Weile zurück
Und warte, wie es Bäume tun.

Durch Sturm und Wind
Zu Boden gerissenen, unreifen Früchten
Trauern wir immer nach

Selten
Geben sie auch einen Samen frei
Der keimen wird. Keimen kann.

Schwer wiegen
Leicht wiegen
Gesagt ist gesagt.

Schweigen ertragen
Alles Saat hat seine gute Zeit
Zum Ertragbringen.

Ohne Winter
Kein Frühling, kein Sommer
Ohne harren, kein Herbst.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE ESSENCE

In seeking Contact with people
Seek that within them
Which is the core of their
Human essence.

There is a moment
Like an electric shock,
When humanity meets humanity
Your cores touch
And so do always your chores –

A kickstart into the Quick
Hearts run like rivers
Seeking the sea. Let it be.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

JUST DANCE

A road of water, slippery
A bridge of knife-edge, treacherous
A fall of repetition, weakening
An opacity of reflection, saddening
A backdoor of wall, illusionary
A tiger of library, jealous
A conscience of intuition, merciless
Hardfall on softpain, intangibles
Awakening twice, once to life and once to self
Accepting the conditions of the journey
Intangibles, contradictions, repetitions, unpredictables
Armed with Intuition and intellect
Go with the flow.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

HE WAS A WEIGHTLIFTER

A monster of a man
World on his shoulders
Yet fragile is his heart
Go easy on him

He will lift world records
With muscle-rippling ease
But a heavy heart, a broken heart
Will weigh him down

His ego is no bigger than yours
And when he cuddles his little baby
His arms are just as gentle
Trembling hands, subtle fingers

He was a weightlifter
Now he’s down, leaden of heart –
Who will be the one to
Stroke his head and gently lift him up?

He is light as a feather if you ease his pain
Easy like a Sunday morning
Will melt in your hands like butter
Fly with you to the midnight moon, effortlessly.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

MEINE SONNE

Eine Nacht wie jene Tage
An deiner Seite
In deiner schönen Weite

Schade. Du hasst mich jetzt
Nur Haß kann die Liebe ersetzen
Nur Nacht kann dem Tage folgen

Ferne ferne bleibe ich deinem Hassen
Bis es sich ausgehasst hat…
Meine Sonne wird aufsteigen –

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

AUTHORITY WITHIN

There is a poet
He lives in me
I am his host and his prisoner –

He is not married to my wife
He is not related to my family members
He does not come from my country
He does not work for my employer
He is a recluse
A hermit
Who lurks sometimes seen sometimes unseen
In the waters within my heart
I heard his name
They called him Spirit.

He looks at me
With his burning eyes
Only when he has something to say
Then, calling my name, he commands:
“Pen, write…”
And I write.
And that’s all I know about him.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

PLANE WINDOWS

We’re walking on air
It’s a carpet of sometimes white
Sometimes grey and fair
Domed by azure blue and bright
Cushion of cloud.

Creation, I’m sure, is proud
Of its laws, perfect and very (extra) ordinary
Treasures for all who seek and invent
Awe-inspiring, comforting, scary
They make us small and silent.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

ABSENCE

Random quantum sugar
Sweet on my tongue

Fleetingly I savour your love
When it comes
Unexpectedly, like a suddenly remembered dream
You never knew you once dreamed
… when?

Random how it leaps
Madness joy how it keeps
My lonely heart, how it weeps
Tonight

Unhappy to have grown used to your
Absence.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

HARD TO GRASP

ONCE UPON a time, a man woke up and gazed upon a thought hanging in the air above his bed.

And the longer he looked at it, the more it confused him. And when he looked away, he forgot it.

Through the day it disturbed him, a memory he was trying to remember, but could not remember what he was trying to remember. But this he remembered: I am not who I think I am.

So this thought – I am not who I think I am – stayed with him for many hours, each as long as a decade, as he tried to fathom its meaning. Verily, it became his very name. His very aim.

Many hearts. In which one lies the answer? So he broke them open and left them behind, ravaged, the sought unfound.

He is written about in the books of men. His character has been copied and reproduced in stories down the ages – the raging, ravaging beast that consumes hearts and upturns nations. In truth he is a tireless seeker, and always giving. In shrouded truth. Love and peace cloaked in battle and tears. Shredding hearts to pieces with merciless thirst. How many times has he altered history, chasing the mirror? Thus has his troublesome picture been painted before him repeatedly. Thus too does he see himself, hours later.

But all I want is to find the key. Burning Flame, you are not who you THINK you are. This thought nags in him. Remember.

I am a warrior. No.

I am a lover. No.

You are a bridge. Just be.

Just be.

There! There it is again, the morning-thought, hanging once more in the sky above his mind. Hard to grasp:

Just be.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

MY POETRY BENCH

There is a graveyard thence
With benches placed all over
Where people come a-steady
To ponder life and death

There is a certain bench
Apart from every other
Where I sit when poetry
Takes clean away my breath.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.