When they were living It was for them not the past; Now that we are living It is for us also not the past. It is always the present - And it always feels the same; For some it feels like the end, For others like the start, of the game. The future will one day look back And call our present their past - But their present too will hold them back With the same challenges of the past. It always demands bravery Without the benefit of hindsight; To act without knowing if posterity Will prove you wrong or right. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
present
TRANSIENCE
You cannot reproduce the past What is gone is gone The present was never built to last A moment later, it is done. Over and done with. All that’s left to reminisce on Will be legend and myth. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
ALERTNESS
Be present
In the moment
Or when your moment comes
You will be absent
In it.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
PRESENT BE
The present always becomes the distant past. When Martin Luther put up the 95 theses, that was for him in the present. For us today it is the distant past. When Judas betrayed Jesus, for him that was the present; for us today it is in the distant past. When the artisans at Igbo-Ukwu or in Nok made their bronzes, that was for them the present, the most modern moment they knew. They could have never guessed what the future would be. But for us today, their present is the distant distant past.
Even such is time.
Today will one day be the past, the distant past, and be forgotten. Another day will be the present. Everyday another day. Only the present matters. The present is the only thing that Really IS.
Live in the present, from day to day.
Move with the present, from day today.
BE the present, every day.
Be present in every moment.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
PRESENT
Some people seem absent
When they are present among us
Unnoticed by us
And yet when they go
Their absence leaves a big hole
Where their quiet presence once was
A very noticeable absence.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
TOMORROW CAME YESTERDAY
Every new day is the future
you’ve been waiting for.
So, all those things you’ve made a vow
to do in the future,
do them now.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
ART IN ALL ITS FORMS
Art in all its forms
Is the thief of time
Stealing from the past
Sharing with the present
And the future
Like Robin Hood
For time is wealthy in memory
And, like Shylock, reluctant to give.
An evening song will reawaken your life’s morning
A painting will view like déjà vu from lives unremembered
And a poem will whisper your life’s story back to you.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
LOVE TODAY
When you see the future
It becomes the past
And the future becomes again
Unknown to you
To spend your life exploring your future
Is to spend your time scrutinizing your past
It is to miss all the joy and pain
The moment holds for you.
There is only one future
The result of what you do today
There is only one past
Tomorrow it will be today.
Love me today. Make a new tomorrow
Hope is my crystal ball
I see your heart aching for laughter
And laughter after laughter.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
THESE ARE DIFFICULT DAYS
There is a well
A deep oily well
Bottomless
It has swallowed time
My life time
I live in the future
I live in the past
I can’t find the present
It has squeezed hours
Split seconds
I cannot find time
Time to explore time.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
MISTY PAST
On the way to Falkenstein
I knew you were mine
On the way from Falkenstein
I knew you were mine
But when we stood side by side
Upon that castled immortality
I knew only that the great divide
Yawns yet ‘twixt longing and reality
And if we true will call this meeting our last
Then, woman, never lie away our past.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 