SNIPPETS

Hard words are sometimes the kindest
Foraging eyes are sometimes the blindest
Life’s help is sometimes to put you to the test
It pushes you to move when you long to rest

I’ve never wanted something so badly before
I’ve never eaten to my fill and still wanted some more
I’ve never said goodbye and continued to feel sore
I’ve never been so trapped before in a folklore

So many new things starting at the same time
Be patient when you’re looking for the right rhyme
Little doses of salt and pepper, curry and thyme
Life is sometimes a little sugar, sometimes a little lime

I love like Haily’s comet, ever and again I come again
Laughter fills my heart again and conquers the pain
I can’t explain it, I am a lake and I am the rain
And so are you, and every end is just another refrain.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

KEEP THE FAITH

There will be brief sudden moments
Of big aching dreams, they will
Tear you out of darkest despair
Remind you of the throbbing urge
That is your second heart.

An unexpected warm sunny day in winter
That seems to say: Shivering spark, I am
Summer’s promise sent ahead of time
An emissary of hope, here to remind
You to keep the faith.

Strengthened by quietness
You face the dark, and you laugh
And you say: Deep, you are my cocoon
The womb of midnight wonder, from which
I shall emerge, your secret butterfly.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.