The thing which if kissed
will bring you the wildest happiness
Is the thing which if missed
will bring you the deepest sadness

The higher you did fly
The longer you will fall down
Until you hit the ground
And instantaneously die.

It is not the final impact that hurts
but the long excruciatingly long fall
unable to reverse or arrest or accelerate
the moment that will end it all.

A time of remembering
A time of regretting
A time of wishful extrapolating
And never forgetting.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river