Farewell, San Francisco

Farewell, San Francisco
I shall miss you.

I'll miss your cool summer breezes
That chill me to the bone
And your warm autumn days
That remind, oh yeah,
This place does warm up once a year.
I'm just usually not there.

Good-bye, San Francisco
I shall miss you.

I'll miss that familiar skyline of downtown
And the hustle and bustle of Chinatown.
I'll miss the sights and sounds of North Beach
And the quiet tranquility of Ocean Beach.
I'll miss the organized chaos of Union Square
And the hopeless maze that is the Presidio.

Adios, San Francisco
I shall miss you.

I'll miss your people
That make The City feel so vibrant
And alive.
That make The City
Period.

The hipsters in their coffeehouses
The hippies in their tie-dye
The weed-stenched panhandlers of Haight-Ashbury
And the urine-stenched panhandlers of Market Street.

I'll miss the sober businessmen of the Financial District
And the colorful personalities of the Castro
(Less so the rampant nudity)
That highlight the spectrum within The City.

Au revoir, San Francisco
I shall miss you.

I'll miss the varied dialects of the Mission,
Japantown, Little Saigon, Inner Sunset,
And the foreign tourists that flock to the "Full House" houses.

I'll miss the colors of the people.
The orange and black
The red and gold
Even blue and yellow started to make a comeback.

Chao, San Francisco
I shall miss you.

I'll miss the crack of the bat
And the roar of the crowd
At AT&T Park.

I'll miss the lights and parties of Upper Haight
And the dark mystery of Golden Gate Park
At night.

I'll miss the flocks of wild parrots,
The inner city farmers' market,
And the random herd of bison
That all seem so out of place
In this urban setting
Yet feel so right
For San Francisco.

Ciao, San Francisco
I shall miss you.

I'll miss my friends across the bay.
There will be a large decrease in time spent
Zombie killing,
Sports arguing,
Nerd talking
Without them.

Auf wiedersehen, San Francisco
(yes, I did have to look up that spelling)
I shall miss you.

I've always left my heart with you,
San Francisco
But now my heart calls me elsewhere.
To "Seattle"
Where my heart belongs to another.

Ma'a as-salama, San Francisco
I shall miss you.

But worry not, San Francisco
I shall see you again.
When the time to ring in the New Year
Begins.

After that, who can say?
Something I've said a lot
About life these days.
Many things may change in the
Weeks,
Months,
Years ahead
But I've always returned to you,
San Francisco
And I know I will again and again
Come what may.
But until that day...

Farewell, San Francisco.