Imitation of Life by Meredith Coleman McGee, Odyssey 2nd edition

Black boy, black boy, don’t you see, the world is waiting for you to be who you’ll be.

The hurdles ahead are many, but success is hard to find.       Hurry, hurry to the bar the first 50 will get in free.

Your future girl may be there or maybe a one-night stand.

The package lurks near, on the wall, hot potatoes.

O dear, O dear!

The line outside is long, so the show will be prolonged. Keep your eyes open, don’t dare doze for long because your enemy is everywhere.

Bad spirits and confusion can turn friends into foes, because good dialogue is hard to maintain.

It must be one way or the other because compromise is always at stake.

Keep a clear head often, calm will see you through, but erratic behavior can destroy you.

Your little brother is watching and waiting to grow fast. He wants to be just like you because you’re the man he sees.

He loves his mother dearly, but she abandoned him too soon.

She left last Sunday after dinner and returned to retrieve her things.

His eyes rained tears for hours, and nothing has mattered since.

He yearns badly for his mother, but she is lost to boot. Toot, toot around she has been, but worries she has none because fun is sitting at the door when her eyes meet the sun.

The boy grew up too bitter to see the glitter glow, while little brother portrays the imitation he knows.