WHEN BIRDS TOUCH HEAVEN

When birds touch heaven
All we hear is
Music

And the music
Melts away the frozen tears
In my eyes

And my heart aches for you
But what is done is gone
Heaven and bird and wishing star

Where are you?

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

WITHOUT LOVE

Whatever you do
Do it with love
Or you will die without love…

Whatever you do
Do it with love
Or you will be buried without love

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

WHAT IS IT EXACTLY THAT HAPPENED…?

What is it exactly that happened
In the moment
That we met ourselves again?

A very strange thing
Stranger than strange
A strange change
Came upon you and me
And now we are one.

What is love?
What is this love
That is greater than us?
What does it want with us? What?
I miss you.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

AFTER PAIN

And after pain comes joy
If you let the pain have its way
And yet you conquered it

And after pain comes love
If the pain washes you truly clean
And yet you conquered it

And after pain comes life
If you walked hand in hand with pain
And conquered it

Your pain is not stronger than you
You are stronger than it
That is why it tries so hard to hurt you
A little
Because it will not last long

Wait a little longer, baby
Just a little –
Pain is our bridge.
Do you see the morningland
Waving in the distance?

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

ALL THE THINGS THAT THE WORDS DO NOT SAY

I wish I were a painter, to draw the pictures and paint the concepts that words cannot hold – my words. I believe there are greater poets now and ever, better writers, greater wordists, because I’ve tried and tried but still I’ve not succeeded in telling you what I know. I cannot form it in words, I cannot form it in thoughts, I just know it and understand that it is the world of things which the words have never said.

You cannot tell a woman that you love her. The moment you say it, it is gone. You can tell a man the truth, but you cannot tell him what the truth is – only he must find it out for himself one day. You cannot describe beauty in words. Even the beauty of a beautiful poem cannot be put into poetry again. You did it without thinking – and the moment you started thinking, you did not see it again.

Think a little – little thoughts…

A picture is still worth a thousand and one words. A woman wounded me mortally, yet try as I did, I could not explain in words what she did, and yet I know it Clearly.

You can never change anybody but yourself, because you are the one person to whom you can speak without words, always. And once there is truth, then there is nothing more to say. You can only say the truth, my brother, but you cannot make anybody understand. But, take heart… silence teaches the last lesson finally finally finally finally.

All the things that the words do not say, silence says always.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

PARADISE IS HIDDEN BETWEEN YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW

Do not go too fast, do not go too slow, nor stop, nor stop to look back, nor look back, nor go back – walk on at a steady pace. Paradise is hidden between yesterday and tomorrow.

Do not love too far, do not love too near, love as you walk, walk as you love, forward calmly, forward calmly, nor be afraid of heartbreak. Paradise is hidden between yesterday and tomorrow.

Do not dream too much, do not dream too little, do not trust too quickly, do not trust too late, do not work too hard, do not work too soft, do not cry during the day, do not laugh in anybody’s face, do not expect that those whom you love also love you, do not expect that those whom you understand also understand you, do not assume that those whom you see not also do not see you, do not assume that those whom you love not also do not love you.

It is in your heart today, it is in your hands today. Forget the past, son, forgive everyone who ever hurt you, nor dream alone of goodness only in the future – Paradise is hidden between yesterday and tomorrow.

The person who loves you the most is the last person you would think of. Love me, dear, please love me dear. Paradise is hidden between yesterday and tomorrow. And if we let it slip away today, we will not and never find it again tomorrow, but will walk on lonely again, like yesterday.

If you love me like I know you do, please hold my hand forever.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

PURELY, IT IS A MATTER OF LOVE

The dance of the woman in the market
Unloosed poetry
Here it goes, there she flows
Away…

Again I was baffled
Again I was moved
And asked myself one another time:
How many rivers
Meander within one woman?

The things that men desire in women
Are nothing compared to the things
Which women only know in their silent, sleeping heart
That they can give…

And, purely, it was something
That was in paradise on the day
That you and I were born
Children of the rose
Children of love.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

YEAR OF LOVE

Before we landed
I saw a rainbow
It came right through my window –

It curved and curved
Until its ends met one another in a circle
A rainbow circle

I shall take with me
To men on earth this rainbow
That I caught in the skies –

Reflect it shall my smile
My every word shall echo it
My every look shall project a rainbow
Into everyone who loves me back
This year. We shall unite
In a circle and, in Love, be one.
This is the year of Love.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THOSE WHOM WE LEAVE BEHIND

When we love, we move…
When we move, we leave someone behind –
Whatever happens to those whom we leave behind?
I have often wondered
But I truly do not know
If I will recognise them
When I meet them again in a new time.

When we love, we move…
When we move, we leave someone behind –
Whatever happens to those whom we leave behind?

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

OLD YEAR BECOMES MEMORY

Suddenly the snow came
I had waited
And watched the mountain-tops
Snow-capped

All around was a struggling winter
Asserting itself clumsily
When the skies were not blue, it drizzled

The clouds passed away
Temperature refused to fall, stood straight –

I walked deep in thought
On the Mountain, I heard the Bells
Ever and again they met in one sound
A single song. I walked up
And drove away before dawn. It did not
Snow until the airbus was about
To leave the Gate. I watched it
And recalled in my memory
The feel of snow.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.