Witness to a Party in the Moonlight

As I am released into a foreign land

I am swarmed by people with skin as dark as mine

The sun beats and the air is thick

My journey has begun into the Mountain Nation

I gaze off the crusted peaks

Engulfed by tumbling mounds of green

The sun and moon do their trade  

While all the light completely fades

There may be no lights

Though night is still bright

A glow casts and the people dance away

Not because they like the beat

Not because they recently heard the song on the radio

Not because they idolize the way the artist looks

But because this music is their life, their soul

Houses, Money, Clothes, Cars all swallowed up in a bounce from the devil

They dance for Pride

The sheer power of what holds them together and keeps them dignified

When all else has been taken from them

They dance for Love

Not just Love in their friends and family but Love in their community

Love in their god, Love for their ancestors, and Love for their lost ones

They dance for joy

Joy that has not been polluted by expensive electronics or fancy clothes

Joy for this moment in time when they can come together as a community

Joy for today because in the Haitian Nation tomorrow might never come.