64 Libretti

24 Coming Home

復 Fù ¦¦¦¦¦|

Coming home
I find nothing there.
A lawn
an empty patch of grass.
Dry yellow thing.
Looks like the dog peed on it.

Old Ah-mah
sitting in a rocking chair
not smiling,
not frowning,
yawning.

I ask:

When did Ah-Yeh come home from the war?
’43
‘44
‘45?

How many kids did you have?
Too many to remember.

How did you learn English?
What did you do when people asked you to sign your name?
What did you do when Ah-Yeh died from the accident?
What did you do when the money ran out?

Ah-Mah,
How many buckets of pears could you pick an hour?
Were you tired?
Did your back ache?
Were your hands cut from the branches?

Ah-Mah,
When did you sew jeans?
Were you hungry?
How poor were you?
How rich?
What about the baby who fell out the window?
Was he the first or second born?
Was he the fifth?

No, the fifth was your Baba.

Did you make all your clothes from scratch?
What happened when you got arthritis?
Did you plunge your hands in cooling water?  

No and no and no and no.
We were never hungry.
We were never full.
We were never poor nor rich.

Everyone was hungry.
Everyone was full.
In my heart your Ah-Yeh never went to war.
In my heart the world was at peace.

In my heart your Ah-Yeh never died.
In my heart your uncle never fell.
In my heart they live today.
I never picked pears, never sewed Levi’s, never ran short of money.

I never hurt nor wept nor slept nor cried.
I never spoke nor sang nor screamed nor lied.
In my heart I never lie.
In my heart I’m always glad.

In my heart I still am.

Now sit and rest.
Don’t talk so much.
The sun so hot.
You need some drink,
a little tea,
a little boiled water.
I always enjoy when you visit.
Sit and rest.
Let Ah-mah give you some tea,
a little boiled water.
Let me rock and watch and rock and rest
and watch you grow so pretty.

Libretto by Eugenie Chan