This excerpt from The Last Goodbye by Chris Morrissey was originally published in Basically Queer in 2017, p 98. Cyndia Cole read it as a tribute to Chris at her Celebration of Life on October 18, 2025 which was attended by over 265 people at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Vancouver. Erick Rodas of Rainbow Refugee has generously translated it into Spanish. Please scroll down for the Spanish version.
In The Last Goodbye, Chris and Bridget are saying goodbye to their years in Chile, to their years in the convent and to their years in the closet.
We promise to return. It makes it easier for all of us.
We had journeyed together, though you do not know about our journey. We have learned, laughed, and cried. We have stood side by side in the streets in protest, huddled in doorways to avoid arrest, stood soaking wet at the back of a church awaiting the negotiations that would allow us to leave. We have joined you in hunger strikes, demanded an end to torture, and visited your political prisoners. We have celebrated, singing your folk songs, drinking your wine, waving your flags in the streets. We have bought bread daily at the kiosk, shopped weekly at the street market, watered, and swept our streets.
After fifteen years, you have overthrown the dictator Pinochet, and his forces. You begin anew, rebuilding your lives. I have learnt from you about oppression, about finding a voice, about taking back one’s freedom. Now I must strike out and take a new path, leaving the safety and security of my 29-year convent home.
Sadness overwhelms me. I hate to be leaving you. I especially hate not sharing my truth with you. I long to have you to celebrate with me as I have with you. But I dare not break my silence. I cannot tell you who I am, that I too am stepping out from under what has become an oppressive rule of life.
As the plane lifts off, I see the flag flying high over the tower. I hold Bridget’s hand tightly. Tears stream down my cheeks. It will be years before I truly know my freedom, but the journey has begun. Together the two of us take those first steps. We take them together – worlds apart.
When we step off the plane in Boston, Paula and her partner will be there to meet us. It will be the first time that Bridget and I appear in public as a couple.
Fragmento de The Last Goodbye por Chris Morrissey
Publicado originalmente en Basically Queer en 2017, p. 98
Traducido por Erick Rodas
Prometemos regresar. Eso lo hace más fácil para todos.
Hemos viajado juntas, aunque ustedes no conoces nuestro recorrido. Hemos aprendido, reído y llorado. Hemos estado lado a lado en las calles protestando, refugiados detras de las puertas para ser arrestados, empapadas de agua al fondo de una iglesia esperando las negociaciones que nos permitirían salir. Nos unimos a ustedes en huelgas de hambre, exigimos el fin de la tortura y visitamos a sus prisioneros políticos. Celebramos, cantamos sus canciones populares, bebimos su vino, ondeamos sus banderas en las calles. Compramos pan cada día en el quiosco, hicimos compras semanales en el mercado de la calle, regamos y barrimos nuestras calles.
Después de quince años, ustedes han derrocado al dictador Pinochet y a sus fuerzas. Comienzan de nuevo, reconstruyendo sus vidas. De ustedes he aprendido sobre la opresión, sobre encontrar la voz propia, sobre recuperar la libertad. Ahora debo lanzarme y tomar un nuevo camino, dejando atrás la seguridad y protección de mi convento, mi hogar durante 29 años.
La tristeza me abruma. Odio tener que dejarlos. Especialmente odio no poder compartir mi verdad con ustedes. Anhelo que celebren conmigo como yo he celebrado con ustedes. Pero no me atrevo a romper mi silencio. No puedo decirte quién soy, que yo también estoy saliendo de debajo de lo que se ha convertido en un modo de vida opresivo.
Cuando el avión despega, veo la bandera ondeando en lo alto de la torre. Aprieto con fuerza la mano de Bridget. Las lágrimas corren por mis mejillas. Pasarán años antes de conocer verdaderamente mi libertad, pero el viaje ha comenzado. Juntas damos esos primeros pasos. Los damos unidas, aunque estemos en mundos distintos.
Cuando bajemos del avión en Boston, Paula y su pareja estarán allí para recibirnos. Será la primera vez que Bridget y yo aparezcamos en público como pareja.
