memory

EACH ONE HEAL ONE

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

We all have that one person who we don’t like to think of, but who we also never forget. That one person, the thought of whom causes us so much pain and anger. That one person who hurt us, or deceived us, or betrayed us, or belittled us and made us feel so small, or took advantage of us, or kicked us when we were down and weak, or made a fool of us, or stole what was precious from us, or led us astray, or lied against us, or harmed us.Maybe it was that one person who we trusted deeply and who betrayed this trust. That one person who left a permanent scar in our heart. We all have that one person who we don’t like to think about but who we also never forget.

And that person also has the one person who they don’t like to think about but who they also never forget. And so it goes round and round in a circle, and we are all locked and connected in a net of pain and disappointment and bitterness and betrayal and memory and hurt. And regret. No one is spared, no one is innocent, no one is free of pain or of guilt. We are the ones who teach each other the lessons of life and of the vagaries of the human heart. We are all we have. Those that hurt you and those that harm you and those that heal you and those that hug you and those that have you are all the same people. Everybody has touched somebody. And everybody has been touched by somebody. Each one hurt one. Each one heal one. Forgive, and move on.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains

LOVE HURTS

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If love hasn’t driven you mad
Then you’ve never felt love before
If love hasn’t made you unbearably sad
Then love has not yet pierced your core
If love hasn’t tested the line you had
Between the good and the bad
and fundamentally changed you forevermore,
Then yours isn’t love, just a lore.

And the most astounding part
Is the dull ache somewhere in your heart
and the cold ashes that remain
when you walk down memory lane.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

AGAIN AND AGAIN

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The Heart does not forget overnight
Sometimes it needs more than one lifetime
To forget the way back to the Light
And the echo of the last Grail Bell’s chime

Again and again it reads the Message
Again and again it feels the pull of the Call
But the gains and pains of the Modern Age
Make it time and again slowly forget it All.

A sad day it is time and time again
When a soul rises again from its deathbed,
And all it’s relatives’ tears and pain
Will be nothing compared to its own regret.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

I CANNOT REMEMBER

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I cannot remember all the good I did
I cannot remember all the evil I did
People remind me

As you go through the world today
Be mindful of the things you say
And do to those who cross your way

People will remind you one day.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THE FORGOTTEN YOU

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How could I forget you?
And forget that I forgot you?
Even this I forgot.

Forgot your face
Forget your eyes
Forgot your ways
Forgot our ties
Forgot the words we spoke in the night
Forgot the cadence of your voice’s delight
Forgot your touch, so deep, so light

I did not even remember you as a dream
You just were never there it would seem
Memory is a fast-flowing vanishing stream.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

EAGLE AT HEART

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Landing in Barcelona

Sun-burnished
The sea slit
The morning lit up
Furnished my wit
The varnished mirror beneath me crawls
And over-yonder my sun it calls
Back tarnished memory bit by bit.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije

MEMORYLESS TRAVEL

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You have to get there to remember.

On the way there you will forget
Where you are going to
And why.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

COMRADE

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There was an eagle in your eyes
In your gait
In your voice
In your words
In your deeds
In your mind
In your Heart, Daddy –

It was you. Your spirit. Your essence.

That eagle is flown away today
Six years ago
But the arch of its flight is still imprinted
In my memory
Like daylight in the nighttime.
A Comrade in life
And a Comrade in the afterlife.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

In Memoriam:
Comrade Uche Chukwumerije
11.01.1939 – 19.04.2015
Ugo Mba 1 Isuochi
Dike Ogu Ndi Igbo
Convinced Socialist. Proud Panafricanist.
Father. Teacher. Comrade. Enigma.

FOREVER IS A LAND OF GOODBYES

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

One of the most beautiful things
I have found
Is to be able to let go of the past
And move on –
But never forget the past.

I love every pain
Every joy
Every regret and remorse
Every parting and every loss
Every victory and every memory

For by the very act of going
They left something with me
That will live in me forever…
Forever is a land of goodbyes
And new beginnings.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

WHEN THE PATH FEELS WRONG, YOU SEARCH HARDER

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You might sometimes find yourself, for long periods of your earthlife, striving after the wrong things; even worse, striving via the wrong principles and means; unaware of how you got there, sometimes unaware perhaps even of whatever it was you once really wanted, and not knowing how to change back onto the right track.

This is a trick that life plays on every Seeker – to force you to light up the inner Lantern within your consciousness; for the aim of the cocoon is to turn the caterpillar into a butterfly. So too does life make you blind in order to awaken your Insight – and then, nothing can blind you anymore apart from you yourself. Sometimes the wrong path is the right path, as long as you keep on honestly and tirelessly seeking. You will find yourself.

 – Che Chidi Chukwumerije.