Araliya Mal Thunak

From the cage of my eye I sang out water,
because I am of the squirrel clan,
hidden away, I suffered in the chest,
the humiliation….

The altar dream shattered,
the milk-tooth dream bloomed,
on the lonely path I felt a comfort,
and it was quenched……

In the meditation of life,
on the journey without you,
there were places that hurt,
falling again and again, in and out of season,
the way I used to laugh came back,
and I wrote it down as a secret

Doe-eyed one, in your eyes,
the soul fills up with light,
the dream I keep seeing is your smile..

Doe-eyed one, in your eyes,
the soul blooms with light,
I would come tearing down even the moon..

Writing our tales upon the earth,
the sun set the moon in place and went off somewhere,
erasing the short stories you had written,
three araliya flowers smiled….

A poetic, image-dense heartbreak song by Abhisheka Wimalaweera, whose imagery is deliberately oblique and dreamlike. It opens on hidden grief: from the cage of the eye he sang out water, wept, and, because he is only of the squirrel clan, a small, humble creature, he suffered his humiliation quietly, out of sight. The pain is real but kept private.

The middle moves through broken and blooming dreams, the altar dream of a wedding shatters while a childlike, milk-tooth dream blooms, and on the lonely road he finds a brief comfort that is then quenched. In the meditation of life, on the journey without her, there are places that still hurt; and yet, falling in and out of season, the old way of laughing comes back to him, which he keeps as a secret.

The refrain lifts into worship: doe-eyed one, in your eyes the soul fills with light, and the only dream he keeps seeing is her smile, for which he would come tearing down even the moon. The close is elusive and lovely, tales written on the earth, the sun setting the moon in place and wandering off, the short stories she wrote being erased, and, over it all, three araliya flowers, the temple frangipani, smiling. Written and sung by Abhisheka Wimalaweera, it is a tender, riddling song about carrying a hidden heartbreak and the smile of a lost love that refuses to fade.