Wisst Ihr wie lange ich
Ein Schatten am Rande Eurer
Freundschaft wandelte?
Ich schätze jedes Lächeln, auch dann
Wenn es mir nicht gilt, denn Blumen
Blühen für wen? Ich
War der Dieb, der ein Stück Freude
Aus dem Überschuss Deines Glanzes stahl
Die gefallenen Krümel Deiner
Stimme für einsame Nächte sammelte
Und Deine Liebe genoss
Ohne dass Du es merktest, denn
Mir galt sie nicht.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
What, is it?
Struck, like thunderbolt
Thunder, and lightning
Yet gentle, as falling snow
Omnipresent, like substance
Everywhere, you turn it is
You cannot, hide away
From it
Once, it has caught you
In its tender, net –
It is love, some say
Pure, selfless love, they say
It is strange, is all I know
Makes, you ashamed
Afraid
And, after you have conquered, yourself
Weathered, shame and fear
It makes, you humble
And all you want, to do now
Strange
Is serve, the Almighty.
This is what, it does to you
This is what, it does to you
The strange beauty
Of, a good woman.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I saw a child
Waiting at a bus-stop
Waiting after school
Waiting in the woods.
Child, what are you
Waiting for?
I’m waiting for my mother
Waiting for my father
To come and pick me up
Take me home.
The child’s eyes
Were wide and trusting
Full of hopes and questions
And fears.
And the child said
With pleading eyes:
I really should not speak
To strangers.
The years have passed
And now when I pass by
I see a quiet adult standing there,
Smiling, detached, lonely.
And I wonder
Whatever happened to that child?
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
A slice of moon for breakfast
A dotted star and tea
A blue-grey sky that will not last
For soon the sun will be
The slice of moon is smiling
And as it smiles it fades
The words are dilly-dallying
And my pen hesitates
By what premise did I now
Presume myself a man
And yet I promise, nay I vow
To serve the Son of Man
The slice of moon has disappeared
Did I just say a prayer?
I long to touch lives, that be shared
The music in my ear.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
You don’t know
How it feels
To feel abandoned
Disoriented, homeless
Unprotected and lost
Do you?
It’s the worst thing
That can happen to
A child, a youth in
The making, a heart
In the breaking, an
Adult early forsaken.
It follows you
All your life
Like a boat sailing
And sailing and sailing
Looking, for land
To go ashore, never-finding
Sometimes I see
A pair of eyes
And I know that
You too were abandoned
And have never found
Your way back home again
The world is full of
Loneliness and stories
Half-written…
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Rache, sie roch
Nach Rache und laugte nach
Liebe und ich entschloss
Nicht linder mit ihr zu fahren
Denn sie wusste genau, was
Sie brauchte – den Sturm meiner Wut
Ihre Hassmaske löste sich auf und
Sie weinte, und ihre Schluchzer klangen wie
Musik in meinen Ohren.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
If music is the universal language
Then who will teach
Me how to interpret
For example, say,
The language of the stars
The language of water
The body-language of true lovers
The language unspoken
And the language unheard…?
If music be the universal language
How come no-one hears
The songs of heaven
That are sung in celestial gardens
And descend into the earth every new day?
Or, if we hear
How come we do not understand?
It is very strange
This strange communication gap
Because everywhere I turn
Every sound is music
And every language is a song
More or less forgotten
More or less alive.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije..
Die Worte kehren zurück
Schmilzeschnee aus Österreich
Pendelvögel aus Afroteich
Alte Liebe aus vergrabnem Glück
Und dann sehe, tanze, küsse ich dich
Ein Lächeln aus Lust und Laune
Aus Freude, Unruhe und flehendem Blick
Nach einem Moment mit mir alleine.
Ich mag dein Lächeln
Noch anziehender ist’s als deine Hübschheit
Und mir vertraut ohne Ende
Nur deine Augen sind mir vertrauter
Schweigen lauter und verschwiegen.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
She loves pain
To feel it I mean
Like earth loves rain
To feel it she says
Hurt me before you love me
Hurt me if you love me
Pain is my mantle
Break it open to reach me
Light my candle
Read my signals I’m screaming
Half her lovers think she’s joking
Until she ups and walks away
The other half keep her running
Round and round in circles
Seeking silence.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I do not know
What music is…
But I do know that
But for my love for music
I would be dead.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
