I carry with me only a pouch of hope
A flinch of salt for my daily bread
My shadows falter; my wings, they grope
For space, where seekers dread to tread
My sandals are poised to strike the sand
A grain of pain is universe
But when I prise open deep my hand
The lines of blessing write off any curse
In leaps and bounds my mountains guide me
When the moon is barking, my shadows hide me
Pauselessly, hard, intuitions ride me.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
So the sun is yellow today
See that?
There – above the dark grey clouds
Beyond the mists and fog –
See that?
There – outside the boundary of your brooding thoughts
Beyond the clutches of your sorrow
If you look through your depression –
So plain to see,
The corner of your unsmiled smiles
Tugging at your lips
Lifting your lids – look, look
Above the tree tops in the jungle of your sadness –
Don’t you see?
The sun is golden yellow today.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
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.
I sat under a tree
Waiting for me
To come back to me
And while I was there
Two friends came to share
With me their hope and fear
A couple healthy and young
Who for long did long
To right a secret wrong
Early in their union
Confused they had given
A baby away for adoption.
And now though they try
And love and long and cry
The womb stays barren and dry
They’ve traced now doggedly
And found the family
Where their child grows happily
Today from afar
They saw them pass in a car
Saw how happy they are
Then sadly, quietly
They walked to the tree
Where I sat waiting for me.
And so did we three
Reflect thoughtfully
On history and destiny
And then we took heart
Upped and did depart
With courage and hope in our hearts.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Is the price
Of life
Too high?
Experiences that break you
And rob you of the desire
To carry on living.
Is the price
Of knowledge
Too high?
Experiences that teach you things
Which in the end you wish
You never came to know.
If the price
Is this high
Then the prize
Had better be worth it
What ever it may be.
Some say it’s eternal life
Some say it’s finding yourself
But what do they know?
All these wiseacres
Just as lost as you are.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
“Keep chipping away at that block
Keep clipping away at that rock
Keep knocking on and breaking that stone
Keep striking at and cracking that bone
It is their faith, their pride, their hope and strength
It is the very foundation of their self-confidence
So just keep hammering steadily away at it until
They lose every belief in themselves and their will.”
Now if you’re reading this and know what I mean,
Stand up and holler at your foes seen and unseen:
“I can’t be beaten! I can’t be stopped! Because I’ve seen through you
And I’ve seen through me, and I’m the stronger of the two!
Break me down and I’ll come back twice as strong
You don’t know my foundation, so you can’t kill my song.”
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I saw hope, lost
On the hills, amnesiac
And she was
Looking for hope.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
His pride is on sale
And his shame
And on his broad frame
You can see him bearing his fate
With a brave face on display
Seventy years of age
All his fears have come of age
His hopes, dreams, plans, crumbled
But now he’s picked himself up again
And sits at the south train station
Easel, paint-brushes, stool, low table
But he holds his head up high
Give him a smile and a coin
And he’ll paint a portrait of you
That will stand the test of time
He: You speak good german
I: Can I write something about you?
He: Yes, but no names please. I
Have a granddaughter in Darmstadt, who
Doesn’t know what I do to survive.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
What don’t I know
About you is what
I silently ask myself
Each time you ask me
What I’m thinking
As I think about you
How many wars
Have you fought, won and lost?
How many lives have
You taken, how many given?
How much hunger did you endure
To nourish so much anger?
How many loves have pierced you?
How many wounds are
Dripping a trail back to
How many acts of survival?
All I see is the smile in your eyes
And the hope in your heart.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
When a gun shouts
It sounds like a whip on crack
So why are you laying that wound
On your brother,
Brother?
You have none other than
The last one you just buried
Those graves are not for the brave
Your brother’s life is all you have,
Brother.
Soldier soldier don’t shoot
Fingerfood for thought is trigger for the unhappy
A life in exchange for a shot
And you call that a fair deal?
Poor substitute.
But they say, look here
We don’t like all these heavy words.
Give us laughter, give us comfort, give us food
Give us pride, give us a shining ring
Or, if you can, give us hope.
Someone has to get up
Someone has to get up first.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 