Words never stopped anyone
Whose heart was a gun
He’s just out to kill someone
Night never scared anyone
Whose heart was a sun
He’s just out to bring a new dawn.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
light
LOVE IN THE DAYS OF HATRED
Bold of heart and stonecold must you be
And extraordinary too, gentle one
If in these days the bad news on TV
Doesn’t strike fear into that heart of yours!
Because mankind is still not free.
But listen, listen to me now, lamb and dove
The hour approaches when on a dark empty street
You shall be the last lantern still shinning as from above
And no-one, not even you, will understand fully why
In these days of hatred your heart grows stronger with human love.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
HATRED HAS MANY BELIEVERS
Watch that hatred bang
Its head on the wall
Watch it struggle against a bridge
Over a gorge, dig a hole and fall
Hear it, baffled, ponder into the night.
The middle is thinning out into left and right
I know you don’t believe in the light
Because it’s hard to believe in something
You don’t understand –
It’s safer to hate in numbers
For the logic of hatred is easy to comprehend
Only a few will be left standing
After love has conquered the land.
Tread soft, haters, you’re walking on quicksand.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
ANTI-GRAVITY
There is a lightness of words
That, when it leans on you
Your heaviest resistance disintegrates
And you learn a new
Meaning of the word Gravity.
For the lighter wrestles the heavier
To the ground
The whisper beats the shout
To the sound
The rigid mind of intellect
Remains earth-bound
While the childlike heart of intuition
Freedom has found.
Like a flame dancing on water
Spirit is light as dove
And heavy as conscience.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
BREATHE AGAIN
Wait for the knocking of the carpenter
For it won’t be long
Lovingly building that cradle, soft of hay
It will be rocked by a virgin’s song
But a prouder man, a truer man
Will watch over the smile of a radiant star
– Then, lonely earth spirit, light up your heart
For Christmas is no longer far.
And if you think deeper, you will realise
He did not come to die, but to open up our eyes
To Life, to love, to a new reason to strive.
Breathe again, wilted human flowers – and rise…
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
DAWN BEFORE DAWN
The light that comes
Comes from within –
Sun, moon and stars
Are stars in your own inner film
Morning comes with distant murmurings
Trains and cars and birdsongs gurgling
Silence broken by the rain
And swallowed up in silence again.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
LIGHT AND DARK
Don’t ask me why I did it
You won’t get any answer
That makes any sense to you
I did it ‘cause I’m a dancer
Don’t ask me what kind of music
Plays underneath my propensities
The same hand fingering fine violins
Also thumbs the base of depravities
Don’t ask me how I can bear it
To be sometimes day, sometimes night
It is the fault of the sun
Who keeps me spinning around
Now I love being spun around
Locked in a battle that can’t be won
And can’t be lost, I love the light
Sometimes, and sometimes I fear it.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
IT KEEPS MOVING FORWARD
Light, Light, yon distant star
Ever and on you move
Forward, forward, always so far
Away in the distant grove
You call, I come, and then you are gone
You beckon, I follow, all on my own
Love, Love, yon burning star
Ever and on you go
Forward, forward, near and yet far
And forevermore we follow
Who is in my heart? Who are you?
All I know is that I love you.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
ELOPERS
It is a story that always breaks and
Runs away from its observers
Like the baffling speed of light
No outsider ever understands what is happening
When it’s happening
Always it breaks the fabric of logic
Only the two lovers themselves, only they
Who follow the inner call of shared love
Understand the logic of magic.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
LIFE IS A BURDEN MADE LIGHT
Life is a burden made light
By the weight of sacrifice
Your life is useless unless used to the full
For something meaningful and useful.
Self is heavy, selflessness is light
The battle is painless for them that fight
The volunteer’s prize is dignity
Freedom is not for free.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
from THE BEAUTIFUL ONES HAVE BEEN BORN
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 