Kshemaye Nagare

Birds burning in the sand,
searching the desert,
for the city of refuge,
stirring the sky,
they search for it,
the city of refuge

Cruel tongues of fire
cut them down,
the desert’s snares of death call them on,
and the life still left in that breast
is deceived by the shadow of a mirage

When the mirage-hunt
begins,
the life clinging at the tip of the beak,
cast down alone in the sand,
takes flight once more, seeking refuge

A stark, philosophical song that turns exhausted desert birds into an image of anyone searching for safety and peace. Birds burning in the sand scour the desert and stir the sky, searching for the city of refuge (kshemaye nagare), a place of security that stays just out of reach. The whole song is that endless, desperate search.

The middle is all danger and illusion. Cruel tongues of fire cut the birds down, the desert’s snares of death call them on, and the little life still left in the breast is deceived by the shadow of a mirage. Everything that looks like salvation turns out to be a trick of the burning air, hope itself becomes a hazard.

And yet the bird will not stop. When the mirage-hunt begins again, the life clinging at the tip of the beak, cast down alone in the sand, still takes flight once more, seeking refuge. That is the song’s quiet, unbearable point: however often the promised safety proves a mirage, the search resumes. Sung by Hiran Kanchana, composed by Tharindu Damsara, it is a haunting, allegorical song about the exhausting human search for a place of safety and peace, and the refusal to give it up even when every haven turns to mirage.