Goodbye Abbotsford

Goodbye Abbotsford,

Your sprawling suburbs and dirty streets

where business is the name of the game

and the poor and homeless are the losers. 

Goodbye Abbotsford,

A church on every street corner

yet violence and gangs increase

and it’s dangerous to walk at night. 

Goodbye Abbotsford,

I will not miss

your fake smiles and insubstantiated promises 

that “we will hang out someday”.

You liked that I was of use to you

then turned your shoulder 

during the darkest days of my life.

I was invisible. 

Goodbye Abbotsford,

There was a tiny patch of garden 

I loved 

A friend

or two

whose smiles were real. 

I’ll miss them. 

I pray to God

This is goodbye to those who hurt me

Goodbye 

to dysfunctional ways of thinking

and living

Goodbye 

to being a hollow shell

in the busy, apathetic chaos. 

Goodbye Abbotsford,

I am so very ready to go. 

I’m done. 

It is time

For a new chapter. 

But for some reason

I’m still crying.