FEEL IT FULLY

Feel it fully
Intensely not dully
Pain beyond measure
Is one of the earth’s treasures
It grows your heart
Makes it strong, soft and alert
All in one. Your true heart
Your spirit, your innermost part
That lives on and on and on
And on and on and on…

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

RECALIBRATED

When you‘ve lost
What you love the most
You have nothing more to lose.

When what gives you strength
Leaves you
Then you have only yourself left to choose.

And your God. And seriousness.
No more half-bonds.
Whatever stays must really be your crew’s.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

TIME WILL TELL

Time is such a strange thing. We always forget how long it is. One day you will change and you will look back and ask yourself Why. Why did I do that? Why did I not do that? Why did I say that? Why did I not say that? Why. Was it really worth it?

If it was, you will know and you will be happy. If it wasn’t, you will know and you will be sad.

But only time will tell you what your heart is still too blind or too stubborn or too immature to see today.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains

AFTERMATH

It took me a while to acknowledge and accept the betrayal. And the permanent change. It is what it is. But now that I have, I have. Now, we can successfully pretend, together and apart, that it never happened; and that we were never that close. Now the bond is broken. The intimate bond of trust.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains

HEALING

Thinking of tomorrow
Of when you‘ll be gone
Your name is Sorrow
And your work is almost done.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

RELATIONSHIP PURPOSE

If you don’t make each other happy,
then what’s the point in being together?
To lift each other up when you’re feeling crappy,
And be there for one another in every weather.

And forgive each other when you make mistakes
And learn from your actions, mistakes and reactions
And make the effort to grow, no matter what it takes,
Learning to understand yourselves and your actions

Love is a house and a road,
Is a journey and a destination,
Is a relief and a load,
Is intensity and elation.
Love is your heart talking loud and clear,
Telling you this is who I want near and dear,
Telling you, Have no fear for I have no fear,
Anywhere we set off to, together, we will get there.

And when you laugh together
And when you grow together
You will one day thank the Almighty Father
For bringing you together.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

PAIN AND GAIN

Without the pain
My life would have been so empty,
My spirit’s real gain
Are the lessons and they are plenty.

It is really possible
To lose a person and become whole,
It is really possible
To lose the world and gain your soul.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

DIE HARD

All the things I thought would kill me,
Didn’t kill me.
But they sure did hurt…
They hurt like hell for a long time -
But they didn’t kill me.
They made me wiser, stronger and sadder;
But in the end I’m still me.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

PEOPLE NEVER COME BACK

People never come back
They move on to the new you
Or to their new perception of you
With or without you
And you move on to the new them
Or to your new perception of them
With or without them
But the old will never come back.

Tomorrow will come.
Those who try to cling on to the past
Lose their way and orientation very fast
Because Time never goes back.
Those who meet again do so in the future
As different people with a different Nature
Because only going forward takes you back
Home.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

YEAR OF ACHING

What a difference a year can make
Depending on the path you take
The pillars you shake
The bonds you break
The demons or the angels you wake
And the thirsts you slake.

For whose or for what’s sake?
For something real or for something fake?
Some say the heart is a lake
Beneath its surface there swims a snake
Your happiness is at stake
And yet all you seem to do is ache and ache.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river