‘How was your trip to Africa?’
I asked in a phone call to my brother
‘It was for a trade show’, he said
‘And it went well’
‘Although I left here with a cold’
‘and came back with it’
‘sitting among the great unwashed
‘there’s no telling what’s flying in the air!’
‘Well’, I laughed
‘I can just see you swathed in scarves
Up to your very eyes
for the whole 15 hour trip!’
‘No, no, no’, he demurred
‘And be taken –in today’s world–
for some kind of terrorist!’
‘Yeah, you’re right, Bruh’
‘We’re all in a paranoid state, aren’t we’
‘Looking over our shoulders’
‘Aware of the electronic eyes and ears
Sprouting all around us’
‘Like I told you, sis’
‘Watch out for the Matrix’
‘That’s why I don’t join Facebook
Snapchat Twitter Twatter or any of them!’
He said in that comical way he has
He keeps me laughing all the time
But I had another point to make
‘You know what, Bruh?’
‘I’m with you on all that’
‘No reason to make their spying easier’
‘But this ‘Matrix’—this ‘system of things’
‘Is inside another and grander Matrix’
‘And the True God who himself sees all
‘Will take care of all this stuff’
‘ “in the sweet by and by” ‘
‘Just as sung in the old Negro spirituals’
‘You got that right, sis’
‘I love it: “in the sweet by and by”’
‘Have a good day, Bruh’
‘Later, sis’
By Jahgirl
11/7/2017