Kusumi Latha Lyrics by Greshan Jayamaha

Kusumi Latha, a vine of pollen and blossoms, wrapped in a lovely story,
again and again she steals a glance my way.
In the endless forest, on the moonlit ground,
over and over she comes to play.

Though my heart is bound to that flower, this heart of mine,
she is not near me, she does not stay.
Though we wished our two hearts would be one someday,
that place is not there, it is not there.
Deep in my heart, within this heart of mine,
it is only you who lives in me.

Though our eyes meet every single time,
there is no room in my heart for the pollen, no room at all.
Even when she leaves me and the ache sets in,
her heart is of no use to me, of no use at all.
Deep in my heart, within this heart of mine,
it is only you who lives in me.

A young man has fallen for a girl he calls Kusumi Latha, and the whole song is him turning that feeling over in his mind. Her name itself is the first piece of the picture. Kusumi means flower, and latha is a vine or creeper, so calling her a flowering vine is the kind of tender Sinhala image that says she is delicate, blooming, and quietly beautiful, something growing and alive. He adds renu, the pollen, the fine golden dust at the heart of a flower, which here stands for the soft, intoxicating pull she has on him.

The opening sets a gentle, almost dreamlike scene. He keeps catching her stealing glances at him, horen horen, in secret, never head on. He places her in an endless forest under the moon, on the moonlit ground, playing again and again. This is not a literal place. It is the world she has taken over inside him, a quiet, glowing forest of the mind where she keeps appearing whenever he closes his eyes. The moonlight matters too, because in Sinhala song the moon carries a calm, cooling kind of beauty, so the setting tells you his feeling for her is more longing and wonder than heat.

Then the ache underneath it surfaces. His heart is bound to this flower, but she is not near and she does not stay. They may have both wished their hearts could become one someday, but he admits plainly that the place where that could happen simply is not there. It will not happen. What saves the song from being only sad is the line he keeps returning to, deep in his heart, it is only her who lives in him. Even with no future, she has filled the whole inside of him.

The last verse pushes that devotion almost to stubbornness. Every time their eyes meet, he says there is no room left in his heart for the pollen, meaning no room for anyone or anything else, no other distraction can settle there. And in a bruised, proud sort of way, he tells himself that even if she walks away and leaves him hurting, her heart is of no use to him anyway. He is not really over her. He is a young man protecting himself, holding on to the one truth he is sure of, that she is the only one inside him, even when she will not stay.