ATOP CASTLERIGG

02/01/201729/07/2020 ~ Che ~ 3 Comments

It must have been on Castlerigg
Amidst the ancient stones
My spirit suddenly grew big –
Did I sense my old bones?
I felt that here within this circle
I have married you before
What some might call insensible
Or, being kind, a lore…

Why do I feel what I feel?
Your eyes tell me it’s real…
If you agree with me, then nothing else matters
Sacred are family matters –

I still see Castlerigg
The heart of a mighty circle
Of mountainous hills wise and big
Like a prototype stone circle
Built by Substantiate Beings
That walked the earth
Long before Human Beings
First came to birth.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije (Poems Inspired by the Lake District)

SAVED BY LONELINESS

02/01/201729/07/2020 ~ Che ~ Leave a comment

This morning
When I woke up
My loins were weeping
With longing for you –

Thick manly tears
Wasted on the banks of distance
The smeared silence of morning
Frustration, the fury of loneliness

Dark has been my desire
As bright as love.
Take me away
I need something stronger than hope.

That’s when my spirit spoke up.
I did not know there were so many daggers
Knifed into my back
Yet I am still alive.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

BACKTEETH OF REALITY

01/01/201729/07/2020 ~ Che ~ Leave a comment

The world rotates,
A restless insomniac,
Lays on its back
Upon its bed of thorns

The bedsheets are sweating
Blood and brine
Midnight is crying for dawn.
A dream crashes to death everyday –

What laws really govern our lives?
No constitution
No legal textbook
Can capture the reasons and dynamics of living

So why don’t I stop wasting my time
With laws that terminate at death;
Seek instead for those that ever were
Ever will be.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

MY FLAMING HEART

23/12/201629/07/2020 ~ Che ~ 2 Comments

How many women
Can quench my thirst?

How many loves
Can calm my racing heart?

How many homes
Can contain all my feelings?

My flaming heart
Will have its piece

My flaming heart
Will have its peace

O flaming heart
Be still, be still…

The wind is blowing
The river is flowing –
Peace, be still.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

COMING BACK

19/12/201629/07/2020 ~ Che ~ Leave a comment

image by Pexels

You reap what you sow
And pay back what you owe –
Just a little rhyme to remember
When you harvest the crops in September.

Never burn the bridge you’re travelling on
For it alone will lead you back to where you begun –
Just a little thought to ponder on
Wanderer, before you wake up and wander on.

Givers never lack
Takers never give back
Because they forever lack –
The newest face has on old old back
The global highway was once a little dirt track.

We reap what we sow
And pay back what we owe –
Just a little rhyme to remember
Brother, when you await the new year in December.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

(Image courtesy Pexels/Pixabay)

JUST ME

18/12/201629/07/2020 ~ Che ~ 4 Comments

image by kloxklox_com

I am my own forerunner
My own ancestor
The reincarnation of myself

I am the roots of my own tree
The stem, the trunk, the branches and the leaves
The flower and the fruit
The source of my own seeds

I am the beginning of my self
And the continuation and the end

The original blame rests upon me
The final victory shall be my handiwork
I am the controller of my destiny
Nothing more, nothing less
Nothing else.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

(Image by kloxklox_com)

FREEDOM

16/12/201629/07/2020 ~ Che ~ 2 Comments

image by Couleur

More important is yourself

A traditional mind might wear
A cultural dress might tear

A social responsibility could grow cold
An educational dream might never unfold

Or maybe it will

Still

More important is yourself –

Be yourself.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

(Image by Couleur)

THE TWO SONGS

15/12/201629/07/2020 ~ Che ~ 2 Comments

ONCE UPON a time, two birds became friends in a faraway country, different from their own. They decided to make two songs, not just one…

Then they said goodbye and each bird returned to a different country.

Music is a country. Loneliness is a country. But love would like to visit all countries and free all peoples.

I still know our two songs and, tomorrow, when all countries have united in love to be one world, I’ll teach you another song you once wanted to sing…

Do not be afraid to open up your heart because there are two songs in there, not one.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
From “There Is Always Something More” (Short and inspirational stories and thoughts)