Kelesaka Keewath Lyrics by Chandrasena Hettiarachchi

However you may say it,
telling me to forget the memory of you,
just as you have said it,
how am I to forget?…//

Wrapped close beside me like a lover,
on the day you longed for affection,
at the moment when, like this, you have forgotten,
it has not been forgotten by me,
just as you have said it,
how am I to forget?…

However you may say it, the memory of you…//

When the whole world, through every mouth that asks,
questions me about you one day,
am I to keep this bound love hidden,
like one gone deaf and dumb?
just as you have said it,
how am I to forget?…

However you may say it, the memory of you…//

A gently reproachful love song about being told to forget someone you cannot. However she says it, telling me to forget the memory of you, the singer answers with the ache at the song’s centre: just as you have said it, how am I to forget? To be ordered to forget is itself impossible.

The middle holds a bruised memory. There was a day she was wrapped close beside me like a lover, a day you longed for affection; and now, at the very moment she has managed to forget, it has not been forgotten by me. Her forgetting only sharpens how much he still remembers.

The close turns outward. When the whole world, through every mouth, asks him about her one day, is he supposed to keep this bound love hidden, like one gone deaf and dumb? He cannot deny it, cannot forget it, cannot pretend. Sung by Chandrasena Hettiarachchi, it is a tender, wounded song about the impossibility of forgetting a love on command, and of hiding a love the whole world can see.