Opportunity is temptation
Take not every one that comes
It knocks but once, they say
But where does it open into?
Stay on your path.
When in doubt,
Listen inwards.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
BEHIND YOUR MIND
Insight awakens
What hope is there for Sight?
No matter what your eyes see outwardly
Your heart insists on knowing better inwardly
Proof is intellectual
Knowledge perceptual
A Dream will insist
Reality is the dreamy Mist.
Vision takes over
You become a tool of its mission
Lose your power of decision
In matters beyond the mind
There the mind is blind –
Your Vision does for you the Seeing
Makes of you a true human being
The mind sees the light
Bows to the inner power of Insight.
You search for words to speak your mind
Your strange heart is all you’ll find.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
KNOWLEDGE
Conscience = con science = with knowledge
In your conscience
You know
The difference between
Right and wrong.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
OURS WAS
Yes it was
A gone cause
Broken laws
Unbroken again
Spoken in vain
Your lovely name
Ours was
More than just a game
Hitherto thitherto
Lonely walk
Lonely stalk
Whereto?
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
KISSING IN THE RAIN
Caked by the moon’s blood
It was our virginal touch
I thought of you
As a wolf howling for mystery
As we silently
Touched without a sigh
All I remember is the look
In your observant eyes
Muddied
By the moon’s blood
No rain could
Wash it away.
Dance, ye shivering droplets
Our skin is voyeur
Our dance is romance
Immortalise our first kiss.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
BE YOU
All I can do
Is just sing my songs
Between currents of dawn
I am a tree
The Iroko said to the ground
I cannot be grass too
Nor wind that comes and goes
And sings with birds and scents
And distant tales.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
CONSCIENCE
Brave fool
You spoke the truth
Now it’s fallen off your shoulder
Breathe easy
When you look into the distance
Your eyes aren’t distracted by your thoughts
You see the observant trees
The bird minding its business
For your conscience is clear
Heavy is the hand that holds the knife
That strikes you down
Heavy is not thine heart. It is light.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
INTIMACY
How many people live in
Your household?
Just you and your partner and
Perhaps your children too?
Love children of all types.
Or do your friends too
Live with you there?
And have your parents and families too
Openly or secretly moved in and
Joined in your decision making?
And are strangers the ears of
Your intimacy?
And is the world with you in
Your privacy?
And yet you continue to wonder
What went wrong on the
Threshold to Paradise
And where did the intimate home go?
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
THE MIRROR’S BOTTOM
The mirror sang from side to side
Somewhere over the rainbow an old guitar
Picked up a young musician,
Awakened in his heart the desire
To be a Bridge.
And he is still wandering
looking for himself –
When the masquerade dances
not earthly drums move its feet
but the worlds underneath.
When your heart moves
Close your ears to the kora you hear
Look for the mirror within
For the mirror swings
from side to side.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
WIR SIND
Wir sind wie Zombies
Leben in Deutschland wie
Schatten in einem Raum leben –
Nämlich nicht. Nur
An der Wand schemenhaft schleichen
Unstet, unsicher, bruchstückhaft
Unerfasst und unfassbar
Und fassungslos
Wie Geister tauchen wir aus dem
Nichts nachts auf
Tanzen laut wie entfesselte
Verzweifelten…
Lachen mit Mund
Fragen einander gegenseitig mit Augen
Was wir hier machen –
Nämlich nichts.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 