Thani Pata Heena Lyrics by Imaya Perera

It is a cracked valley where single-colour flowers bloom,
butterflies with broken wings, scattered dreams, weeping,
a far horizon’s edge that bears flowers even out of season,
seeking colour, the butterflies keep coming and going

I know there are days you forget even to breathe,
on a day with no phone call, though it goes unsaid, the heart cries,
mother is forever searching an old shirt for a scent of you,
now and then, a heavy, lonely sigh is heard on the veranda

The moon, carried from the village and stuck in the sky, often visits here,
on many days we sit over a drink, keeping up the conversation,
on another day the weary heart falls silently asleep close by,
on a night too hard to bear, even the moon, now, goes out

Go and see whether the scotch heather is blooming on the plains,
tell me if it has come again, on a beautiful summer day,
with weak, iron-grey hands, lovingly stroke the wrinkled cheeks,
say that I will come back soon, bringing colour with me

A quietly aching song about separation and longing, most likely between someone living far away, abroad, and the family they left behind. It opens on a bleak inner landscape: a cracked valley where single-colour flowers bloom, butterflies with broken wings, scattered dreams weeping. Even so, seeking colour, the butterflies keep coming and going, the hope of colour, of life, keeps drawing them back.

The middle is unbearably tender and domestic. The singer knows there are days the loved one forgets even to breathe; that on a day with no phone call the heart cries in silence; and that mother is forever searching an old shirt for a scent of you, while a heavy, lonely sigh drifts across the veranda. These are the small, specific ways a family aches for someone gone.

The far place is lonely too. The moon, carried from the village and stuck in the sky, visits the singer where they now live; days pass in conversation over a drink; and on the hardest nights even the moon goes out. The close is a message home, gentle and heartbreaking: see if the scotch heather blooms, stroke the wrinkled cheeks with weak, iron-grey hands, and say that I will come back soon, bringing colour with me. Sung by Imaya Perera to words by Dr. Najath Akram, composed by Tharindu Damsara, it is a soft, sorrowful song about the ache of distance between someone far from home and the family, and the aging mother, who wait for them to return.