JEWELS AND THORNS

Somewhere it‘s day
Somewhere it’s night
Some hearts are sad
Some with joy bright

But even as the world
Continues to spin
The happy turn sour
The sad grow a grin

Sometimes you’re glad
Sometimes you’re down
Jewels and thorns
Adorn the human crown

What makes us human?
The ability to weep
And then laugh again
For our heart is deep.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

FREED

Hardly a night goes by
Hardly a breath flows, an evening
Melts
Without this thought
You brighten my life

Curly windows
When the crowds are many
I am alone

I wanted to be a nightingale
To be a flower
I wanted to be a star
The evening wind blows
I am human. Let it be…

Sometimes again
Freed from the city’s shackles
Hackles, hard tackles
I am green, bright yellow, blue as sky
Glad am I.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.