Sihinayenma

In a dream, in a dream,
I still search for you in a dream
your fragrance is love itself,
in a heart-wounding dream

Diving to the depths of love’s ocean,
bring me pearls,
if you remember the road
you travelled far away, then come
to my dream..

Give me pearls like that day,
but please do not go away again,
my beloved,
you cannot help but come
to my dream..

This is a soft, dreaming love song about someone who now lives only in the singer’s sleep. In a dream, in a dream, he repeats, I still search for you, and even there her fragrance is pure love, though the dream itself keeps wounding his heart. From the first line the beloved is present and absent at once, real only while he is asleep.

The central image is the sea. Dive to the very depths of love’s ocean, he asks her, and bring me pearls, the treasures of everything they once had. If you still remember the road you took when you went far away, he pleads, then find your way back along it, at least into my dream.

The close is gentle and a little desperate. Give me those pearls the way you did that day, he says, but this time do not go away again, my beloved. He ends almost reassuring himself: you cannot help but come to my dream. It is a tender song about loving someone who is gone, and clinging to the one place, sleep, where they can still be together.