What is it about San Pedro?

What is it about San Pedro? 

What is it about this place where 

we swim in a sea of Bacchanal?

Where nights of revelry feed our earthly desires. 

Where days are spent gazing upon the turquoise waters, 

shimmering beneath a scorching sun.

Is it the Soca and the Punta and the Reggae rhythms?

Or the trade wind breeze that sweeps 

a warm wind 

across our golden skin?

What is it about this magic drenched island 

that has us seeing things, feeling things that we could never fathom 

anywhere else?

Where undone spirits from centuries of ritualistic indoctrination 

cling to the land that they once perished upon,

and remain hidden within, 

in the shadows of the coconut palms, 

as they whisper secrets from the past under the midnight sky.

Could it be the broken language that slurs from 

native tongues that draws us in, 

leaving us hanging on their every word?

Or is it the roar of the reef that sings to us

until our hearts dance with her waves?

Or—maybe, just maybe…

it’s in our first breath of sea-borne air

that San Pedro casts her spell and  

enraptures our souls

until our eyes shine like starlight, 

leaving us in a trance, 

convincing us that this is the Way,

Seducing us

Tempting us

Taunting us

asking for a promise

that we will never leave 

her side.