He points his guitar
Not like a musician to the side
Not like a gunman
Aiming his battle at you
But like a prayer up into the sky
And when he sings
Our eyes die on him
Our hearts lift up with hope
And follow his guitar
Pointing up into the sky deep within us.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
In the days of night
The unroaded paths
Only one only one
Was constant –
To her I pen this poem tonight
Only one only one
Was constant –
While I slept, while I woke
While I walked and while I wept
While I sought and fought and caught
And was alone
In my heart was the sound of music
Only one only one
Was constant –
To music I pen this poem tonight.
-Che Chidi Chukwumerije
A woman there was
Who by music was made –
Music conceived her
And made her
And set her free
And lost she wandered
Uncomprehended and lonely and
Confused for many a day
Until upon a morning, dawn tore
Out of her heart a haunting melody
And she learned that she could sing
Then did she, joyous of heart, compose
And sing and release to the world
Like a bird-being set free
The very song that fashioned her
And daughter became mother
Nay, traveller became bridge
I am a song
You are a song
We are all heaven’s song.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Your love was a noon dance
Abruptly torn out of the startled wind
And then your heart beat
Sorrows are stepping in rhyme with the breathless wind
They say it was an African evening
Moonrays on my yesterday, hush little girl
I can hear your sobs five thousand kilometres away
For night unites what day divides
Dreams reveal what the heart is hiding
I know you miss me still
Those morning strolls underneath the bougainvillea
Golden teardrops bloomed along the empty street
The hibiscus was our only guardian
The day you became a woman and I a man.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
***
Last night something strange
Cracked a door open on the wall
Of my memory, without even knockin’ twice
It came out of nowhere, suddenly.
A song, I was 17, house party
Whose house? I don’t remember any more
There she was, in the dark
Dancing with me, like I was the night wind
She a young tree, swaying, leaves shuddering slowly
Two shadows in a room full of shadows
House of teenagers about to wake up
From youth with only memories faded of yesterday
How long did this song quietly travel
Through time, to waylay me in that lookback moment last night
And take me back to that other night so many years ago?
Every memory I think I’ve forgotten
Is stored in some song somewhere, seeking me again
So don’t ask me why I’m dancing oldskool
Time is a candyman, stuck to your melting heart
Memory memory will knock your boots back
Never ever ever gonna let you go
Where is she now? My young mango.
She is a part of this song now
And last night I saw her, danced with her, again.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerijeem>
Broken chords
Broken locks
The open is gate
The soft is music
The lost is world
Lost and found
In the name of music
In the name of love.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
A slice of moon for breakfast
A dotted star and tea
A blue-grey sky that will not last
For soon the sun will be
The slice of moon is smiling
And as it smiles it fades
The words are dilly-dallying
And my pen hesitates
By what premise did I now
Presume myself a man
And yet I promise, nay I vow
To serve the Son of Man
The slice of moon has disappeared
Did I just say a prayer?
I long to touch lives, that be shared
The music in my ear.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
If music is the universal language
Then who will teach
Me how to interpret
For example, say,
The language of the stars
The language of water
The body-language of true lovers
The language unspoken
And the language unheard…?
If music be the universal language
How come no-one hears
The songs of heaven
That are sung in celestial gardens
And descend into the earth every new day?
Or, if we hear
How come we do not understand?
It is very strange
This strange communication gap
Because everywhere I turn
Every sound is music
And every language is a song
More or less forgotten
More or less alive.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije..
I do not know
What music is…
But I do know that
But for my love for music
I would be dead.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Seven seals locked Pandora’s box
But some clever mind surely
Was on hand to break me free
Now he’s running from me
I want you, baby. It’s redemption time
Outrun dawn? It’s time has come
Strip down and face the reggae trumpet
Natty dread rise again, too much hypocrisy
Sweet is the weight that falls off your shoulders
When you stop fearing to speak your mind.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 