UNFOLDING SHADOWS (A Duet)

Duet with Helenvalentina

On the morning I ached
For the memory of the night
When my soul within was stricken
Before ineffable light
And the face of one remembered
Was unutterably bright

In the mounts of memory
Hidden, this valley
Where you sang a sun
To birth, rise in glory
Spirit of immortality
Half-seen-and-unseen you pull me

From these ancient hallways
I witnessed the reign
Of a long yearned for god child
Returned to this plain
And I fell, not from weakness
But from fervour regained

And yet in truth we both know
‘Tis all half-truth and metaphor
Cloaking what it claims to unveil
Our thirst for less and more
Less of hide-and-seek
And more of flame and fervour

Ah and here the sweet pain
That rends through my soul
The numinous so fleeting
To encompass us whole
And yet then it’s just whispers
Where shadows unfold.

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by Helenvalentina and Che Chidi Chukwumerije
———————————————-

START

If you decide, and start
To do nothing
Your gods will help you to
To nothing.

If you decide, and start
To do something
Your gods will help you to
Do something.

Onye kwe
Chi ya e kwe!
*

Nature will strengthen the fruits
Of the seeds you sow and grow.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

————
* Igbo proverb: “If you say yes, your god will also say yes.”