Rana Bima Lyrics by Athma Liyanage

On the battlefield today
on this rough ground
desolation reigns
in the dense dark of night
I find myself remembering you

In this drifting wind
its cold wraps around my body
in the moment the young grass-blades
do not stir at all
in the moment a bleak, hollow sound is heard
guns poised, testing our strength
thoughts of guarding the nation give us courage

Time goes on its journey
victory today is ours
this land is our heritage
made strong upon the earth
meeting by the roadside as I come home
hand in hand, let us go on in peace
so that some day to come, we shall never part

This is a soldier’s song, sung from the front line, and it holds two loves at once, love of country and love of a person left behind. It opens in loneliness: on the battlefield, “on this rough ground,” where “desolation reigns in the dense dark of night,” the soldier finds his thoughts turning, of all things, to the one he loves. Even in the harshest place, it is her face that comes to him.

The middle verse puts us right inside the tense stillness of war. A cold wind wraps his body, the young grass does not stir, “a bleak, hollow sound is heard,” and the guns are “poised, testing our strength.” What steadies him in that moment is duty: “thoughts of guarding the nation give us courage.” The song does not glorify battle so much as show the quiet resolve that carries a soldier through fear.

The last verse turns toward hope and homecoming. “Victory today is ours,” he says, and “this land is our heritage,” strengthened on the earth by those who defend it. But the final image is not of triumph in war, it is of love: meeting her “by the roadside as I come home,” walking on “hand in hand in peace,” so that “some day to come, we shall never part.” What the listener is left with is the whole heart of a soldier, brave for his country, yet longing above all for the simple, lasting peace of returning to the one he loves and never leaving again.