Atheetha Samarum

Among my memories of the past,
your name is written at the very top,
and though, with the troubles of life’s journey,
a little of it was forgotten,
it will never be forgotten,
it will come back to memory again

The places we came and went in those days,
the places we wept and laughed and smiled,
though we never got to stay in them,
your memory, like a song,
is felt in the heart now and then,
and a tear rises to the eye

Some day, at some point in this life,
though there is now not even a heart left
to meet and grow close again,
your memory, like a dream,
scorches me from time to time,
then comes softly and cools me once more

A gentle song of nostalgia and enduring memory. Among all his memories of the past, the singer says, your name is written at the very top. Life’s journey and its troubles may have blurred a little of it, but he insists it will never truly be forgotten, it always comes back to him.

The middle revisits the shared places, the places we came and went, where they wept and laughed and smiled. They never got to stay there, or stay together, and so now her memory returns like a song, felt in the heart every now and then, always bringing a tear to the eye.

The close is quietly resigned but tender. Some day in this life, he admits, there is now not even a heart left to meet and grow close again, the relationship is truly over. Yet her memory lingers like a dream that scorches me from time to time, then comes softly and cools me once more, pain and comfort in the same breath. Sung by Geeth Peramuna to words by Lakshantha Chinthaka, composed by Tharindu Damsara, it is a tender song about a name kept at the top of the heart, a love long gone that memory keeps quietly alive.