Kurulu Paradeesaye

In the bird paradise, on the ocean of bird-dreams
I will come to dwell with you, in the birds’ celestial city

Where in our world could I find a true love like this?
what a wonder, where on earth is such a thing?
In the bird paradise, on the ocean of bird-dreams
it was you who first began our love story

In the bird paradise

Piece by piece, gathering them one by one, we built the nest
filling our hearts, we were crowned in the kingdom of love
In the bird paradise, on the sweet ocean of birds
it was you who first began our love story

In the bird paradise

Every single day is a wedding festival in your nest
songs of love cry out softly, all on their own
In the bird paradise, on the ocean of bird-dreams
it was you who first began our love story

In the bird paradise

Sights like these bring tears to my eyes
O birds, may long life be granted to you all
In the bird paradise, on the ocean of bird-dreams
it was you who first began our love story

In the bird paradise

This song builds a whole little heaven out of birds. The “bird paradise” and its “ocean of bird-dreams” are an imagined celestial world where love is simple, faithful and complete, and the singer longs to go and live there. Right away he sets it against our own world with a wistful question: “where could I find a true love like this?” The birds have something he is not sure human beings can.

The middle verses picture that ideal love unfolding. The birds build their nest “piece by piece,” patiently gathering each twig, and once it is made they are “crowned in the kingdom of love,” like a king and queen at their coronation. After that, “every single day is a wedding festival” in the nest, love songs rising on their own. It is a vision of devotion that is joyful, unforced and endlessly renewed, exactly the marriage the heart dreams of.

The final verse is where the sweetness turns tender and a little sad. Watching all this happiness brings tears to his eyes, and instead of envy he offers a blessing: “O birds, may long life be granted to you all.” The listener senses a person gazing at pure, effortless love from just outside it, moved to weeping, wishing the little creatures every happiness because they hold the very thing he most longs for. What lingers is that ache of admiring an ideal love and blessing it, even from a distance.