Every flight is a flight of fantasy
Every journey is a journey of discovery
Every departure is a departure from routine
Every arrival is an arrival somewhere in between

Every stranger is of a stranger kind
Every meeting is a meeting of minds
Every parting is a parting of the Red Sea
Every greeting is…

Wait! Greetings. The greetings
Are the closest we’ll come to most humans.
Put into them the earnestness of meetings -
They are often our sole communions.

With eyes, with words, with gestures,
With a handshake or an embrace -
Greetings in all their textures
Help us to feel our human race.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river