You are afraid of a flower
She smiled sadly at me
My bosom blossoms for you
My thorns, they prick, I know
But love hurts the lover
And love hurts the loved
And I’m dying, I’m dying for you
Lie down in my grave with me
Let’s be reborn together.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
The last was the first
It burst out of the blue dark skies
And brought light! It shone
And won our hearts, our better parts, our bitter parts
Yet it was the last.
The first was like the last
It melted away softly into wintry blues
And, oozing, seemed to reunite with windows closed
And nothing more was to be said, all appeared dead.
Yet it was the first.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
In the tears in his eyes I saw the question
What will happen to her
When I am gone?
There was a tenderness about the way
He looked at her, spoke to her
Touched her arm with every third word
And his eyes that looked into the distance
Were not gazing back at their past
Or wondering about his afterlife
They were looking into her future and marvelling
At the fact that life goes on
Even when you’re gone.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Upon the fields and meadows
Saw I two black sheep
Alone, together
Feeding, side by side
And then evening was near
The shepherd
Slowly shaved the wool
Off one of them
And led it away
And now when I look into the fields
And meadows
Of my youth
All I see is one black sheep
Grazing alone…
Brother
I still miss you –
Except that the fields and meadows
Have become bare
And the second black sheep is gone too…
And the wind is cool
Upon the mountain-top…
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Whatever you do
Do it with love
Or you will die without love…
Whatever you do
Do it with love
Or you will be buried without love
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Our hearts are broken in our youths,
The pain is deep and deeply buried
Beneath our adult ways and fashioned truths;
First love and first death never are forgotten…
First hopes and first dreams, of our young hearts begotten,
Within our innermost souls are ever carried.
Our hearts are shaken in our youths,
Our melodies tempered, our vision stirred…
Amidst all in the world that hurts or soothes
We sometimes slip back again into old times
And see young smiles and remember dead rhymes –
Our backward glance is never completely impaired.
Our hearts are made and formed yesterday,
And today we continue to actualise
The longing that awakened with the early morning ray…
And though yesterday is all done and gone away,
Yet we have it with us always in our hearts everyday
As we boldly heavenwards continue to strive and rise.
Yes, our hearts are awakened in our youths,
And who or what can stop a heart?
It wants to grow; like a stem it shoots
Towards light and life, towards stimulation –
And we shall make it, through trial, tribulation
And whateverelse it be that ever be on our chart!
Forever, forever, the candle is flaming…
And laughing and rising and working, remaining the same.
Our hearts are strengthened in our youths,
If we truly choose to live!
Yesterday, today and forever are booths –
We exit one and enter the next;
And hope and promise shall always be our text,
Yes, Father Above, and our gratitude to THEE we give!
Our hearts are born wild, live wild; until the taming
Gives us depth, dimension and the truth behind our naming.
Yesterday, today and forever…
Alive today, dead never –
We flower forever.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Image by PublicDomainImages
Do you see
Those two boats
On the river?
Two brothers
Will row, side by side
Into the sunset.
One will dock
On the golden banks
While the other
Will row on
And they will wave
Goodbye to each other.
This is the way
Of the world
Of love and loss
Of meeting and parting
Of friendship and memory
Of life and death.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Picture:
My brother Kwame and I
University of Ibadan, Nigeria
1995
A few weeks later, he passed on in a car accident.
This was our last picture together.
Do you hear that wailing?
Somebody is dead next door
Someone is left behind and weeping
Behind heaven’s closed door
Another earthlife is ended forevermore
Quietly I watch the lights of the siren
As they grow brighter in the distance
Soon they cover up my neighbour’s silent scream
Then all grows quiet for one instance
Death welcomes every circumstance
I know that couple next door
They never failed to say hello
Now one of them I will hear nevermore
But whenever I see the other’s sorrow
I will smile and say, gently, hello.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
How many lives did you need
To come alive in this one?
How many graves are marked
With those names
Which you will never know again
Never bear again?
Countless and faded.
Death, that great equalizer
Will remix your cards again
So before your life be lived in vain
Make something good of this birth this time.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Often, upon many an unquiet storm
Seeking calm exits through rough unfriendly seas
I have longed for death, and then
Quickly corrected myself, for even then,
Deep within, I sensed
That death would be no end.
And I have given kindness, even though
I knew that kindness would be a signal
To those who sail the dark waters
To come in and take advantage of me.
And I have kept many a dark secret silently inside
Just to protect some people, that they be not exposed.
And I have kept my peace
So that others may have their piece
And when they did not turn around
To say thank you, I have continued
To be that way still
For I know no other way to be.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 