Ich erinnere mich daran Wie lebendig die Nacht war Je dunkler sie wurde Das Dorf war ein tausend Geister Mein Vater war ihr Meister in meiner Fantasie Meine Mutter ihre Seele Sie sprachen mit mir ununterbrochen Du bist ein atmendes Wesen, sagte ich zu der Nacht, Aber da ich noch ein Kind war, sagte ich es nicht, Ich wusste es einfach Wir unterhielten uns bis die Sonne aufging Bis das Dorf ihrer Magie ein Gesicht wieder gab Und ich wusste, ich wohne in der Stadt, in Lagos, Aber nur hier, in diesem Dorf, Ngodo, Bin ich Zuhause. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Im Jahrzehnt der Deutschen Dichtung
Christmas
LOCKED INSIDE
There is one frozen lake
That thaws not in the spring
It is winter of wordless ache
In my awakening
In my beginning
After I awoke
I greeted the earth and forgot
The language Creation spoke
Before the big bang
And ding dong merrily on high
Once upon a time
After a bell rang
Before the big bang
A song my spirit sang
Song of flame
In tongue of flame.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
EVEN IN A DAY’S TIME (Holy Night)
I have heard that a new star
Is coming…
I hear it every time I return to the
Earth –
Somebody wrote it down a long time
Ago –
And everytime I reincarnate
I am confronted anew with the fact
Of the coming of a new star
A radiant star brighter than the sun
Filled with the power of all the seven heavens…
I have seen this Star.
I saw it once before I was born
I saw it from atop a Mountain before I was unborn
And I have no doubt that one day
It will have come much too close to the earth
For us to be able to do any other thing
Than burn down, burn up or become eternally burning flames
Of spiritual light, paradisiacal fire
Beyond the understanding of a new generation
And a new earth.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
CHRISTMAS: HEARTS OF BELL
I saw a bell
Fall under the spell
Of a magic wand
In a magician’s hand
And he turned the bell into a man
Walking up and down the land
Ringing out a message to everyone
But only a few will understand
I tell you what.
Affiliation to nationality and religion, gender, class and race
Will always be more important to the human race
Than being human, our common lot.
So now the bells, they are ringing
The hearts, they are singing
The times, they are bringing
A Message of Hope.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
THIS CANDLE, THIS CRADLE, THIS CROWN
Shone the New Star
Like a Comet
Blessed tail a-resting nobly
Upon the manger
A guardian, a herald
Of Eternal Love
Of Eternal Light
And I saw a smile
‘Twas an Angel singing
And a Child with serious eyes
Smiling greetingly
Into a world full of strange creatures
Long lost –
A candle is re-lit
A cradle is rocked with overflowing light
The Bearer of the Crown
Came simply
And left simply
And nobody can know completely
How much love He had
How much pain He felt
How much He loved and hurt
A Stranger
A Hero
The Incarnation of Love Itself
The Love of God
Yea, Thou art He
Jesus, the Christ
The Son of the Living God!
Amen.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
WARM
There is something about Christmas
Even in places where it is cold, it is warm
Those without electricity bring light to each other
Drought and famine cannot destroy the bread of life
War will not make us forget that we are one human family
And the rich will not be happier than the poor –
There is a light that brought warmth upon this earth
If the cold of loneliness grips your heart this year
May Christmas touch you and make you warm.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I wrote this poem as part of an interview published in Sabine’s Lifestyle-Kolumne. The body of the interview is however in german, but it can be read here.
*Aka Teraka was my pseudonym.
CHRISTMAS ON GRAILLAND
Ibises of paradise
Crows of light
Echoes of Dove and Rose
Palm Trees and Christmas Day
From high up on a Tower
Bells ringing
Come to rest…
And the rest is Christmas Day
Side by side
We shoulder the walk up
The Mountainstar, unto the
Mountaintop
And peace.
For we are not walking alone
We are walking alone
With nature’s laws.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
WEIHENACHT
Das Jahr ist anders viel
Anders gelaufen als erwartet
Erhofft. Nur heute kommen
Die selben alten Gefühle wieder
Hoch.
Der Schmerz unerklärlich
Und Nostalgie und Verlust ohne Name
Und es ist alles vorbei –
Nur ich habe überlebt, im einsamen
Loch.
Diese Glocken so uralt, so vertraut
Tröstend, wissend, alles was du
Leidest ist ein wiederkehrender
Glockenklang. Sei stark, sei
Schwach.
Mensch, sei Mensch. Menschen scheiden
Trennung ist euer Schicksal, denn
Ihr müsst euch trennen, um weiter
Zu wachsen. Traure deiner Kindheit nicht
Nach.
Die Seele, die erwacht und lacht
Ihr wird heute Weihenacht.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
JANUARY WILL BE DAWN
The Christmas holiday season
is like a dream
In January you wake up and
try to retain
as much of the dream as possible
within your heart.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Searching For The Right Response
I live in Germany. Just two days ago, my wife, our two kids and I were at the Christmas Market in Frankfurt. It was jam-packed, and most people seemed relaxed and happy. We had lots of fun, rode the giant carousel with the kids, laughed out loud, ate extra-large Brezels with hot steaming Glühwein for Yvonne and me, and for the kids warm Kinderpunsch.
And we stood in front of a super-sized Manger and I told my daughter the story of the overwhelmed shepherd to whom a host of angels appeared and brought the glad tidings of great joy: that God had sent His Son to bring Light and Love as salvation to mankind. Pointing at each figure in the Manger, I told her about Joseph and Mary, about the three wise men, and about the Child in the crib in whose heart was Magic. Because Love is Magic. It was a beautiful day.
What religion, what philosophy, what doctrine, what hatred, what madness, what smallness makes a person drive a truck into a packed Christmas Market? How can such a thing be rationalized or comprehended?
I think of the people at the Christmas Market in Berlin yesterday – and inwardly I see the faces of the people I saw at my Frankfurt Christmas Market two days ago. The same kinds of people. Happy people. Full of the spirit of Christmas. I see myself and my family. I see mankind, up against an Evil; an Evil that is slowly uniting the rest of mankind against it. It might take long for the right response to intuite itself into conscious thought and into a visible systemic form. But one day… one day… it will.
Mankind is not perfect, it is true. But this kind of Evil… is beyond all depths.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 