Swarna Wimaneta Eha Lokayen Lyrics by Amaradeva

From a world beyond the golden mansion,
I come, having climbed aboard my little boat,
to see the golden-coloured golden light,
I come, rising up over the rolling waves

Floating on the waves, born again on the shore,
we meet through the music,
in the evening hour, stirring the sweetness of love,
the great body of ocean-water sways and rocks

Filling my boat with pearl-oysters, spiny shells, milk-white cowries,
I come, having climbed aboard,
to the mansion of my future hopes,
I come, bearing a little bundle of love

A luminous, seafaring song of hope, sung by Pandit W.D. Amaradeva to words by Madawala S. Ratnayaka, in the voice of someone, most naturally a fisherman, rowing home. He comes, he says, from a world beyond the golden mansion, climbing aboard his little boat and rising over the rolling waves, drawn on by the golden-coloured golden light, the glow of sunset, or of hope itself, on the water.

The middle turns the sea into music and love. Floating on the waves and born again on the shore, we meet through the music, and in the evening hour the whole ocean, stirring the sweetness of love, sways and rocks like a great cradle. The sea here is not a place of danger but of gentle, rhythmic tenderness.

The last verse fills the returning boat with treasure and meaning. He loads it with pearl-oysters, spiny shells and milk-white cowries, the real catch of the sea, and comes home not just to a house but to the mansion of my future hopes, carrying, tied up small and safe, a little bundle of love. Sung by Amaradeva, it is a serene, hopeful song in which an ordinary journey home across the evening sea becomes an image of carrying one’s dreams and love safely toward the future.