sorrow

ONCE SO DEEP, NOW SO SHALLOW

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

Once so deep, now so shallow
Once never walking the path I now follow
My farm lies fallow

Another dimension
Same old sung in a new key
Sharps, naturals, empty flats
We’ve moved house, you, I

I like it that there is no barrier
In between
My view into your eyes, your view into my heart –
It gives me hope
Furnishes me with counterproof more powerful
Than the deliberations of thoughts

Did you renounce anything for this love, this hour, this
Life? – The words grow stronger
The more I write; the light grows brighter
Within the night, beneath the descending Halo.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

WRITING IS THE HAPPINESS OF SORROW

~ Che ~ 8 Comments

Writing is the happiness
Of sorrow

The immortal spirit
Of mortality

The voice that needs
No mouth

The painting whose canvas is
The reader’s mind.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

———-

In 2013 I gave myself the luxury of publishing two books of poems on my birthday – today 6th April.
One is titled “WRITING IS THE HAPPINESS OF SORROW“, the idea for which came with the poem above which I wrote some time ago.
The other is “THE BEAUTIFUL ONES HAVE BEEN BORN” which is specific to my continent Africa.
In 2015 I reprinted them.

HATRED AND HOPE

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

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.

THE END MUST BE STRONG

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

The end must be strong
Or it will not be satisfied with itself
Shall return again
And again
Demanding to be ended…

The end that drags out must be allowed to drag out
That way we shall never forget
It is imprinted, chiselled, branded prime-deeply
Into heart and mind
Unforgettable, memorable, forever recognisable
Never to be dared again.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

A LITTLE WEIRD

~ Che ~ 7 Comments

You have to be a little weird
To be normal
A little fat to be healthy
A little perverted to love fully
A little poor to be rich
And a little me
To be you.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

PARTING

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

In the tears in his eyes I saw the question
What will happen to her
When I am gone?

There was a tenderness about the way
He looked at her, spoke to her
Touched her arm with every third word

And his eyes that looked into the distance
Were not gazing back at their past
Or wondering about his afterlife

They were looking into her future and marvelling
At the fact that life goes on
Even when you’re gone.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE WORLD IS ENOUGH

~ Che ~ 4 Comments

I knew it
It was too new
Not to be true too –
The questions unreplied were too few too
Happiness swallowed all the cares
Sorrow wears
Discord tears
Happiness shares and it goes around
The world is enough
Big enough, small enough, world enough
Sure.
Manure is pure. Sure.
Even a decadent mind
Even that dark heart
Can laugh out loud
Out loud –
Manure is pure.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

WHY WE SORROW, WHAT WE KNOW

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

Why we sorrow, what we know
No tomorrow, yet we sow
Because this night, because this night
Because this night
Will crack

Light, light, I see tomorrow
Through a crack so slight and mellow
There’s a tiny track

The pain, though great
Will end.
The rain, though late
The rain, though late
The rain, though late
Shall bend
Our way again, this I know
Though we sorrow, yet we know
We’ll smile again.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

UNDERNEATH

~ Che ~ 4 Comments

When sheep undress
They become wolves
When wolves undress
They become sheep

Unclothing less
Reveals more
Of why we laugh
When we weep.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

SING OF GREEN

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

Sing of green
For soon it’ll be gone to dust
A memory of autumn’s ancestor
Saying I used to know a lass
And her name was Summer

Yet look underneath her smile
Yes I mean her brightest smile
Where a shadow sweet as secret sorrow
Suckled on her honey lips
And read my thoughts of you

Then sing with me, sing of green
From the caverns of throat
Dry hoarse tears, from depths of wrong
And right, let the hordes of your
Passion shout with song!

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.