If you don’t make each other happy, then what’s the point in being together? To lift each other up when you’re feeling crappy, And be there for one another in every weather. And forgive each other when you make mistakes And learn from your actions, mistakes and reactions And make the effort to grow, no matter what it takes, Learning to understand yourselves and your actions Love is a house and a road, Is a journey and a destination, Is a relief and a load, Is intensity and elation. Love is your heart talking loud and clear, Telling you this is who I want near and dear, Telling you, Have no fear for I have no fear, Anywhere we set off to, together, we will get there. And when you laugh together And when you grow together You will one day thank the Almighty Father For bringing you together. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
RELATIONSHIP
ALREADY
The person who outwardly leaves you today
Already inwardly left you yesterday.
And the person who outwardly comes to you today
Already inwardly came to you yesterday.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
THE BREAK-UP
The worst pain I ever felt
Was once when I embraced someone
And my embrace, she said,
Made her think of someone else.
Some things you should keep to yourself,
Yet it’s better when they’re spoken out
And it’s best of all when they hurt like hell.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
ALL I NEED IN THIS LIFE OF SIN
There is something about being different –
People can’t place their finger on it, can’t say why…
Some think it’s your colour
Some think it’s your hair
Some think it’s your religion, your culture, your upbringing and education –
Whence is the origin of that which is deeper than style?
Well, when God sunk me, a melody,
Into the soils of soul searching
He must have watered me with the laughter of your wellspring
Because you are my taste
When I feed upon His Word –
Ssshh, I say no more.
Blessed be he, that wandering bard,
Who in sweet swansong sighed and said:
“All I need in this life of sin
Is me and my girlfriend.”
I know what you mean, Tupac.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
INTIMACY
How many people live in
Your household?
Just you and your partner and
Perhaps your children too?
Love children of all types.
Or do your friends too
Live with you there?
And have your parents and families too
Openly or secretly moved in and
Joined in your decision making?
And are strangers the ears of
Your intimacy?
And is the world with you in
Your privacy?
And yet you continue to wonder
What went wrong on the
Threshold to Paradise
And where did the intimate home go?
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
CAPTIVATION
I used to call you petal
Each time I pulled your lobes
And read your thoughts
Discreetly from far away in my personality
The way the farmer reads the clouds
Early in the morning
And thus you told me, without words
When to sow and when to reap
When to prune and when to weed
And when to wait with the patience
Of a farmer waiting for the harvest
Of his labour of love…
Those were the months you thought I was cruel
For the mystery of mirrors is this
The mirror cannot show you what’s
At the back of your mind. Only your lover can
When he breaks your heart
In order to get into it and conquer it
And thus did I imprison myself
For the conundrum of conquests is this
The king is the captive of his own kingdom
And when you let me break your heart
Little did I realise that you did it
Just to make sure you got me in
I came in for the kill
And never made it out again.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 