Oba Heenayak Wage Lyrics by Deepika Priyadarshani

(You, like a dream,
bringing a shower of kisses,
came to the edge of the bridal bed.
Don’t lie down on this bed,
for I belong to my husband, my lord.)..//

I gathered flower nectar in my cupped hands,
holding the tears in my eyes,
and I waited, watching the road…
Becoming a star in the thick darkness for my eyes,
thinking that you would come…
Because I could not break my vow,
I waited, watching the road…

You, like a dream…/

Many sorrows settled in my heart,
the moonlight, too, went out.
Alone in the darkness,
I opened the door of my ears to a single breath of wind.
(The star-eyes opened as well…
I will have the moon,
I am beside the autumn moon…//)

A young woman is alone at night, holding on to someone who comes to her only like a dream. The man she loves, or once promised herself to, appears at the edge of her bridal bed bringing a shower of kisses, and yet she turns him away. She tells him not to lie down beside her, because she belongs to her husband now. That is the quiet ache at the center of the song. The one her heart wants is not the one her life has tied her to, and she will not cross the line.

The middle of the song is all waiting. She gathers flower nectar in her cupped hands and stands with tears in her eyes, watching the road for him. In Sinhala love poetry, watching the road (මඟ බලා සිටීම) is the image of a woman keeping faith through a long absence, ready the moment he returns. She even turns him into a star in the dark so her eyes have something to hold on to. But the line that decides everything is “I could not break my vow.” Sil here is her virtue, the promise of a married woman, and she chooses to keep it even though her whole heart is pulling the other way. So she waits, and that is all she lets herself do.

By the last verse the night has closed in. Sorrow has gathered in her heart and even the moonlight has gone out, leaving her alone in the dark with only a breath of wind to listen for. The moon in Sinhala song is the standing image of the beloved’s calm, cooling presence, the face you long for in the dark. So when she says the star-eyes have opened, that she will have the moon, that she is beside the autumn moon, she is reaching for him again in her imagination, the only place she is allowed to have him. The autumn moon (සරා සඳ) is the clearest, fullest moon of the year, which makes the longing sharper. She gets the perfect moon only in a dream, and only because the real one can never be hers.