Encouraging

Lyrics

[Intro]
(a deep breath — someone about to speak, or jump, or begin)
(Rhodes piano — warm, the electric hum of it, a chord that opens like a hand)
(bossa nova guitar joins — gentle, the rhythm of someone being walked to the edge of something good)
[Verse 1]
(Sisukiro — warm, close, the voice of the friend at the table who sees you clearer than you see yourself)
You've been circling the application
For three weeks now
Like a plane above an airport
That has been cleared to land
Seventeen times
And keeps requesting
One more loop
The runway is ready
The runway has been ready
The runway
Is starting to take it personally
I know what the hesitation sounds like
From inside your head
It sounds like evidence
Like a reasonable person
Making a reasonable case
For staying in the air
Where the air is safe
And familiar
And doesn't require you
To touch anything
With your actual wheels
[Pre-Chorus]
(muted trumpet — one phrase, supportive, a nudge not a shove)
But I'm not inside your head
I'm at the table
With a better view
And from this table
The runway is obvious
And the plane is ready
And the pilot
Is the only one
Who doesn't know
[Chorus]
(lounge jazz opens up — Rhodes, guitar, trumpet, zither, warm and lifting)
L'amour encourageant, l'amour encourageant
The love that sees the thing you can't see yet
L'amour encourageant, l'amour encourageant
The friend at the table placing the quiet bet
Go — I'll be here
Go — the runway's clear
Go — and if the landing's rough
I have a couch
And wine
And the kind of silence
That doesn't say I told you so
Because I won't
Because I didn't tell you to land
I told you
You could
[Verse 2]
(just voice and zither — intimate, the Vietnamese thread supporting the French delivery)
My mother encouraged
By feeding
Which is a Vietnamese tradition
So old
It predates the word encouragement
By several dynasties
She couldn't say
You will be brilliant
But she could make the soup
At midnight
Before the exam
And the soup
At midnight
Before the exam
Was the speech
The standing ovation
The diploma
On the wall of her kitchen
Which was the only wall
That mattered
And I learned from her
That encouragement
Is not the pep talk
Encouragement
Is the soup
The showing up
The being in the chair
When the person walks out
Shaking
And needing a face
That says:
You just did a brave thing
Sit down
Eat
[Chorus]
(full lounge arrangement — the warmest, most lifting sound)
L'amour encourageant, l'amour encourageant
The love that sees the thing you can't see yet
L'amour encourageant, l'amour encourageant
Go — I'll be here
Go — and if you fly
I'll say I knew
And if you fall
I'll say I'm here
And both of those
Are the same love
Wearing different coats
[Bridge]
(Rhodes piano alone — the electric warmth, then voice)
The brain encodes encouragement
The same way it encodes safety
A voice that says you can
Lands in the nervous system
As: the ground will hold
And we underestimate that
The voice
The face at the table
The soup at midnight
The text that says
Just checking in
Not because you're fragile
But because the expedition
Deserves a base camp
And I am the base camp
And the base camp
Is not the adventure
But the adventure
Doesn't happen without it
(guitar returns — bossa nova, warm, the rhythm of belief)
Go
The runway is ready
I'm at the table
The soup is on
[Outro]
(the full lounge arrangement returns — Rhodes, guitar, trumpet, zither, the warmth humming)
(Sisukiro, smiling, the friend who already knows how it ends:)
L'amour encourageant
(the deep breath from the intro returns — but this time it's released, the jump taken)
(the sound of landing — not a crash, not a triumph, just wheels touching ground)
(and from the table: a single clap, then laughter, then the clink of a glass raised)
(the brass section joins the clap — because the brass section was always cheering)