Like a cloud watches a rain drop fall
An archer a misguided arrow reject recall
A mountain an avalanche gather and roll
A doctor a young departing soul
An old woman the memory of early innocent flirt
A tailor a beloved yarn vanish into a shirt
So I remember tonight all those I ever hurt –
Growing up is life’s only comfort.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
It takes a long time
To forgive yourself
For not giving love back
To the person that gave it to you –
Nobody can break your heart
Only you can break your own heart
Nobody’s forgiveness can set you completely free
Until you yourself have broken out
Of your broken heart,
Like Butterly.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
A dog is barking higher up
On the mountain
A worried sounding woof
Every few seconds
I wonder if someone is missing again
Down in the valley there is a train
That rushes past. It sounds like
A river every few minutes
Carrying someone’s dreams into
Another person’s thoughts
I’m trying not to pay attention to the
Conversation taking place beside me
The emotions are strong
Father and daughter gently tying
Up the memories of years past
Just like I waited six days
To finish this poem
So they also waited all these years
To finally say, at the departure, I love you
Please forgive me.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Wait for the knocking of the carpenter
For it won’t be long
Lovingly building that cradle, soft of hay
It will be rocked by a virgin’s song
But a prouder man, a truer man
Will watch over the smile of a radiant star
– Then, lonely earth spirit, light up your heart
For Christmas is no longer far.
And if you think deeper, you will realise
He did not come to die, but to open up our eyes
To Life, to love, to a new reason to strive.
Breathe again, wilted human flowers – and rise…
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Do you know that never-ending road?
Do you know that ever-increasing load?
Do you know that pain when you receive pain?
Do you know that pain when you give pain?
Do you know that quarrel that can’t be settled?
Are you sore? Bitter? Embattled?
Do you want to hurt them back?
And hurt each time you hurt them back?
How elusive it is, no matter where you look
The last page stays missing in a riddled book
Vengeance will drive you to the ends of the earth
But won’t show you the way back to your hearth.
Revenge is its very own bittersweet revenge
The irony of the avenger – cruel, sad and strange:
To be trapped, a victim of your own vendetta
And wonder why it still doesn’t make you feel better.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
That blossom
That let go of the tree
And fell to earth
Is forgiveness
That recognition
That pain was the unavoidable teacher
Is forgiveness
That cleansing tear
Is forgiveness.
But I never want to see you again.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
That moment
When the bitterness
Isn’t bitter enough to sour
Your forgiveness smile
And yet sad is the smile.
How friends fall away like unmasked leaves
Unable to bear the weight of trust
In all its lightness
Treachery by politeness.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 