Khỏe Không Ba (Filial Love)

Lyrics

The phone is cold in my hand.
Nine thousand kilometers of wire and water.
My thumb hovers over the green icon.
Your face, ten years younger, smiles back.
Tuesday morning here, Tuesday evening there.
The world spins between us.
I rehearse the small talk.
The weather, my work, the price of things.
Anything but the sound of your breathing getting slower.
Khỏe không Ba?
Are you well, Dad?
Do the winter rains still ache in your bones?
Did you eat today?
Is the incense lit on the altar?
Khỏe không Ba?
I hear the television in the background.
The same news program you've watched since 1998.
You tell me the orchids are blooming again.
The ones Má planted.
And you ask if I'm remembering to drink the ginger tea.
We talk around the quiet space she left.
A crater we both step over.
Khỏe không Ba?
Are you well, Dad?
Are the neighbors checking in?
Is the house too quiet for you now?
Is the smoke from the `nhang` a comfort or a ghost?
Khỏe không Ba?
They taught me, "Uống nước nhớ nguồn."
When you drink water, remember the source.
And this telephone line is my river.
This static, my offering.
This call, my pilgrimage back to the well.
You say you're fine.
You say not to worry.
And we say goodbye.
The line goes dead.
But the hum remains.
Khỏe không Ba?