ALWAYS THERE

I saw three things up in the sky
Two birds and the moon
The birds flew away
While the moon remained
For a few hours,
And then was also gone…

Will you make me a promise, love
Never to be gone?
But like the sky be always there
Even when all else is gone.

– che chidi chukwumerije.

BECAUSE OF SOMETHING MISUNDERSTOOD

Because of something misunderstood, although constantly seen, we fought; we fought against one another. Neither of us was killed in the intense battle, but our friendship died, brutally murdered by mistrust and injured vanity and faults unconquered in you and me.

There was a word we left unspoken. Would that one had spoken it all this time, would that we had broken down the barriers, the artificial barriers, yesterday.

One day too late, yet all we see are smiles. Is it a joke, or a word of comfort, or a tale, an apology, a ruse, poetry or a bridge? Like it was when we started, like it was, is. Secrets sleeping sleep on still in the sands beneath the sea, lapping up the shores of solemn promises that may never be broken, until the sands are wetted and the rigid stances have melted, lest we break.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

WE ARE FRIENDS

Not because of what you did
Or did not do…

Not because of what you said
Or failed to say…

Not because of what you know
Or never came to know…

But because in your eyes I espy
A certain thing
Which I cannot immediately define
But by which I have hope
That you will be the important one in my life…

Patience.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

HURTING

When will he stop
Persecuting that guitar
His voice is hoarse
It hurts her

It digs a hole in her armour
Roughly
And scoops her out
Hoarsely

I wish I could remember him
In my dream tonight
When silence is wall
Enclosing me and she is gone

His voice is gruff
A street musician
Enjoying his moment on stage
Roughly.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

ODE TO LOVE

Love is a unique thing
It possesseth that quality
Which for want of comprehension entire
One feels inclined to call magic

It overcomes all obstacles
And, as an obstacle, cannot be overcome
How it does this, no one knows
But the Origin of Love itself

Open yourself to love
That it may full-fill you
The more you love,
The more you live.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

UNCONVENTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Human characters incarnate
And re-incarnate.

Each stay on another Earth is but
A continuation.

It is limited by time and
Saturated by responsibility.

There is a task…

– this is the objective happening,
always to be borne in mind.

The key to fulfilment is Love,
Always to be borne in Heart.

You running and you running and you running away,
Sang Mr. Bob Marley

But you can’t run away from yourself.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije..

ABSENCE

Random quantum sugar
Sweet on my tongue

Fleetingly I savour your love
When it comes
Unexpectedly, like a suddenly remembered dream
You never knew you once dreamed
… when?

Random how it leaps
Madness joy how it keeps
My lonely heart, how it weeps
Tonight

Unhappy to have grown used to your
Absence.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

LOVE YOUR FRIENDS TODAY

Souls stranded at sea
Search-pilots say they are ghosts
Whisping like clouds on frothing waves

But fishermen swear they are worried human faces
Who approach with one plea:
To send one last message back home

Before they vanish:
It will be well
Until we meet again.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

APRIL

Her glance was taffeta
Smoothed down my trembling hands
Smoothed down my trembling hands
Oh morning glory
Oh these tremors have passed and
I’m asleep again on a Saturday morning
In the birth cradle of April.

Fresh rain, burgundy tears sprinkle sun, sprinkle dawn
Rainbows, silver and gold fingers
Then palmgreen sprouting hope hope
Then palmgreen sprouting hope.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

HATRED AND HOPE

Branded roses
Blood is your dance floor
Beast is the yeast of your flour
Your moist garden is the handle of my door
And your soup is dour.

I saw a stranger, dressed in black,
Quietly step back from your door –
I saw you, a black bird in grey skies
Flapping, rising
Hatred flaming in your chest like
A torn rose.

Yet I kissed you, don’t
Ask me why – your lips parted and I tasted
Hope on your tongue
Like a squirrel hiding in the bush.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.