Monday June 30, 2025

Dear Kiều,

How are you, em?

It’s been a long while since I last wrote to you, and I can’t help but feel the weight of that silence. Are you well? How is your health these days? Do your hands still ache sometimes?

You’re the one thing that hasn’t changed in my heart, Kiều. But so much around me has… and I have, too. In just these past few months, I’ve changed in ways I never expected — so much that I often catch myself wondering, is it for the better, or for worse? I honestly don’t know.

But in the midst of all that change, there you are — still present, still quietly a part of me.

I’ve written a few songs about you, em. Songs that carry pieces of you, memories and feelings I couldn’t express any other way. In a few days, I’ll be sharing them with the world. And in that way, I hope they find you — even if you’re in some far, dark corner of the earth. Even if I can’t reach you with my own hands. You know how songs are — they tend to travel farther than we ever could, don’t they?

You’ve always inspired more than just words, Kiều. You’ve given me voice, when I had none. And now, I send it back to you — in melodies, in whispers, in hopes.

With all that I am, Tuan