Goûter

Lyrics

[Intro]
(the sound of a plate being set down — porcelain, gentle)
(celeste — a melody sweet enough to taste)
(accordion enters in a lazy afternoon waltz)

[Verse 1 — Sisukiro]
(voice and piano, light, smiling)
The French have a meal that isn't a meal
It happens at four when the afternoon
Has the posture of someone
Who has decided to stay
But would like a small bribe

Goûter — to taste — but also the tasting itself
The madeleine on the plate is a key
And the key doesn't know which door it fits
Until the tongue tells the insula
And the insula tells the hippocampus
And the hippocampus opens a room
That has been locked since your knees
Were the most interesting part of you

[Verse 2 — Orikusis]
(her voice — warm, the village accent present, close)
Tôi nhớ bốn giờ chiều ở Việt Nam
I remember four o'clock in Vietnam
Bà ngoại cho tôi chè — my grandmother gave me chè
Sweet soup with tapioca and coconut
And the coconut had the patience
Of a woman who has been asked
To explain something obvious
To someone she loves

And here in Paris at the same hour
My sister orders a madeleine
And I order a chè
And the waiter doesn't blink
Because Paris at four o'clock
Has learned to hold both

[Pre-Chorus — Both]
(both voices meeting over the celeste, gentle)
The gustatory cortex is a doorway
Not a room
You taste the sugar
And the sugar is a hallway
And the hallway is 1987
And 1987 smells like a kitchen
Where someone is making something
For no reason
Except the clock said four

[Chorus — Both]
(building — sweet, warm, the lightest fullest sound)
Goûter, goûter
The four o'clock treaty between the body and the day
Goûter, goûter
The tongue that opens the door that time put away
She tastes the madeleine — I taste the chè
And both of them lead
To a kitchen with a woman
Whose hands are the first thing we remember
And the last thing we'll forget
And the remembering
Tastes like four o'clock
And four o'clock
Tastes like being held

[Bridge — Both, intimate]
(stripped to just voices and accordion, sharing, passing the plate)
(Sisukiro:) Taste this
(Orikusis:) Nếm thử đi — try it
(Sisukiro:) It tastes like —
(Orikusis:) Giống như —
(Both, together:) Home

(pause — just the accordion breathing)

(Sisukiro:) But which home?
(Orikusis:) Both

(gentle laugh between them)

Tôi nghĩ goûter không phải là bữa ăn
I think goûter is not a meal
It's a negotiation
Between the body that wants sugar
And the mind that wants to time-travel
And both of them get what they want
At the small cost
Of a madeleine
Or a chè
Or whatever your grandmother
Put on the table at four o'clock
When the afternoon needed
A reason to continue
And the reason
Was always sweet
And always small
And always enough

[Outro — Both]
(the waltz returns, the sweetest, simplest close)
Goûter, goûter
(softly, sharing the last bite)
Four o'clock
The grandmother's hands
The sugar
The door
(celeste plays the opening melody one more time — a sweet tooth's lullaby)
(the sound of a plate being cleared — porcelain lifted gently)
(the afternoon continues, sweeter now)