Truth undresses
Conscience pricks
Contemplation caresses
What conversation can’t fix.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
THE MIDNIGHT CANDLE
Spirit flame in the world of it-doesn’t-matter
Radiant star never-the-less in the darkness
Night is a blessing for lost dreamers
It is the world-wanderer’s permanent address
Night makes the seeing blind
And the insight sharp as blade
The fire within will warm the cold
Feet of dew
Young mind, never mind
The world well and shiny made
It is for the old
You were born to bring the new.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
IMAGINATION
They were not decorations on our wall
We were shadows on theirs
Flickering like candle thoughts
Gathering, falling and dispersing
Like broods of clouds
When we stand across the divide
Looking at each other, it’s hard to tell
Who is real
And who is the figment of whose imagination.
Writer, did you write your book
Or did your book write you?
Artist, did you paint that look
In the eye of the portrait watching you
Or are you just a thought in its mind?
If you look, sometimes you will find
That the musician is the instrument
And the song is the conductor of his movement.
And when an architect erects a building
He is only doing so to house therein his restless feelings.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
NATURE SHAPES AND NATURE FORMS
Nature shapes and nature forms
Humans, mountains, seasons, worms
Nature cools and nature warms
Hearts and loves, volcanoes and storms
But stretch out your hand to touch nature
And all you’ll touch are her dorms and norms
For nature herself is hidden from capture
And all we see are her shapes and forms.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
MENSCHLICHKEIT
Guter Rat ist teuer
Gütige Tat noch scheuer
Als ein scheues Reh
Die Welt, sie tut weh
Wessen Selbst ist selbstlos?
So klein und doch eben so groß
Geben ohne verlangen
Sagt man, ist empfangen
Spürt man irgendwie aber auch
Unerklärliches Wissen im Bauch
Haben ist ein Gewicht
Es sei, man habe Licht
Und dann so ein Tag
Wie heute, über dem es lag
Durch Hoffnung befreit
Der Drang nach Menschlichkeit.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
MADIBA
Kindness was his rod
With it he parted the red sea
Kindness was his road
Wide enough for all of humanity
Step forth, step forth, step forth
West, East, South, North.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
IT WAS AUTUMN WHEN WE MET
It was autumn when we met
Trees were reddening
Leaves were falling
Hearts were aching to spill the truth
Autumn, autumn
Cooler nights
Autumn, autumn
Mistier heights
It was autumn when we met
Days were shortening
Eyes were focusing more sharply
On every strange new thing –
To discern the whole truth
Before the snow-blanket
Stored any promises
About to be made –
Diamonds and promises are forever.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
HEARTBREAK AND PROMISES, TOGETHERNESS, FAREWELLS AND SILENCE
To make a promise to love another person, forever, and then to break this promise and say, Goodbye baby… awakens within the hearts of everybody who hears of it a memory of their own broken and unspoken promises.
Noise everywhere. Noise in my head. Noise even in the centre of silence. Lovers are what sages once were, and vice versa. Heartbreak and promises, togetherness, farewells and silence are all trying to resolve themselves within our hearts.
I should never have told you that I loved you, but how could I but not tell the truth? Evermore I understand the importance of silence. Our hearts are broken in silence: a small token to pay for the new powers which soon and steadily awaken in silence within us.
One who can bear the pain of heartbreak; one who can say goodbye and yet always be there; one who can preserve promises in silence unbroken; will read these lines with a knowing smile.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
LOUD
Blessed are the silent
For they shall hear it first…
Blessed are the silent
For they shall hear it first.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
ROLLENTAUSCH
Wie riecht die Farbe lila?
Wie klingt softe Vanilla?
Wie sähe er aus
Zöge ein Gedanke von dir aus
Als wärest du sein Haus?
Auf die Kleinigkeiten, gib Acht
Jedes schmeckt anders, wenn es lacht
Anders als geplant oder gedacht
Wie Machenschaft, Machen und Macht.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
—
—
ps – die letzte Zeile dieses Gedichts schwebte bereits seit einigen Tagen in meinem Kopf. Die Zündung kam dann von unerwarteter Seite. Die siebte Frage einer Tagging-runde von der Bloggerin Sinn.Wort.Spiel brachte auf einmal den Ball ins Rollen… 🙂
Ich stufe dieses Gedicht wegen ihrer direkten zündenden Frage “Wie riecht die Farbe lila?”, die zum Anfang des Gedichts wurde, zumindest als halb-duett ein 🙂
