Ode to Belize

By the blue and boundless water, where the sun burns bright and free,

Lies a land of ancient wonders, cradled soft by Caribbean Sea.

Where the Maya built their glory, stone by stone on sacred ground,

And a thousand years of mystery still in crumbling walls is found.

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O Belize! Thou verdant kingdom, wrapped about with jungle deep,

Where the jaguar prowls at nightfall and the scarlet macaw's sleep.

Where the reef runs long and golden underneath a glass-clear tide,

And the manatee drifts gentle through a cerulean worldwide.

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Let me wander through your market, past the bread, fruit and the cane,

Through a town of painted houses standing bright against your rain.

Where Creole voices rise like music, salt and laughter on each tongue,

And a man may feel that life is very good and very young.

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I have sailed on many oceans, I have walked on foreign ground,

Yet no place has held me captive with so sweet and strange a sound

As your jungle calling boldly at the rising of the dawn.

Once a soul has breathed your beauty, that same soul is never gone.

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Ah, to lay beneath your stars again and watch them burn and fall,

To have nothing, want for nothing, just your beauty overall.

Let me go back to Belize once more, beneath that tropic sky,

Where a wandering man may find himself and have no cause to fly.

Author’s Note:

I wrote this while on a cruise to Belize, taking notes as I was wandering through the jungle, watching the reef, and listening to the markets come alive. Everything about the place, the colors, the sounds, the way the light hits the water, inspired me, and I wanted to capture that feeling.