Nathara Wunu Gangakda Jiwithe

Is life a river that has stopped?
is love a flower turned to stone?
the river flows down in a fine, thin thread,
the flower slowly, slowly opens,
it’s true, my friend

Let the river raise its waves,
o river-goddess, bring a smile to the corner of your lips,
let the flower smile,
o flower-goddess, into the hand, untouched pollen-dust

Let the river tumble and fall,
the river dances a beautiful waterfall-dance,
don’t let the flower wither,
guard forever, this lovely love

A gentle, philosophical song that questions whether life and love have stalled, and answers with quiet hope. Is life a river that has stopped? is love a flower turned to stone?, the two despairing questions open it. But the reply is soft and sure: the river still flows down in a fine, thin thread, and the flower slowly, slowly opens. It’s true, my friend, neither has really died.

The middle is a tender exhortation, addressing the river and the flower as goddesses. Let the river raise its waves, and bring a smile to the corner of your lips; let the flower smile, offering untouched pollen-dust into the hand. It coaxes life and beauty back into motion, gently urging them not to hold back.

The close turns that coaxing into a vow to protect. Let the river tumble and fall, where the river dances a beautiful waterfall-dance; but don’t let the flower wither, guard forever, this lovely love. Sung by Harshana Disanayake to words by the poet Rathna Shri Wijesinghe, it is a lyrical, hopeful song that answers despair, a stopped river, a stone flower, with the insistence that life still flows and love, if guarded, still blooms.