Bye bye London and other articles, by Gazi Al Qusaibi

What can you say about a city in which you spent part of your life, nearly a fifth of it, and witnessed the birth of your daughter, and the birth of three of your grandchildren, and knew heights of happiness, as well as descended into valleys of pain? What can you say about a city where you lived as a student, jostling with people in the bus because you couldn't afford a taxi fare, and lived there as an ambassador traveling in the most luxurious armored cars? What do you say about a city that witnessed the birth of your first novel, and the emergence of several of your poetry collections and books? What do you say about a city where, when you leave, you leave behind some of your closest friends, as well as a significant number of “others”? Farewell cannot be easy, nor can words of farewell be free of conflicting emotions, and your feelings cannot be innocent of a mixture of longing to stay and yearning to leave. Number of pages: 108