Kodukaruwa

A rainbow’s shadow, shining out from your very cheek,
you, who wander through my dream,
a shadow of pure delight, seen as if in the flesh,
you, the darling of my love

Melting on the lips,
veiled in the mist,
I stay here, my love become a wish,
I set it afloat on a sigh, this love,
for me, love has been felt so deeply, oh

My eyes make their pleading, saying it,
even the birds drop their hints of it,
becoming a princess in a tale of enchantment,
for a moment, here in the embrace of my chest,
the words of loving devotion have no limit,
you are my one and only dream

Beautiful one, our hearts have joined,
oh do not slip from this trance and go,
as though we once met somewhere in saṃsāra,
what is this feeling I feel, and why?
the words of loving devotion have no limit,
you are my one and only dream

A dreamy, tender love duet by Kanishka and Romesh Sugathapala, addressed to a beloved the singer calls his kodukaruwa, his darling. She is all shimmer and unreality from the first line: a rainbow’s shadow shining from her cheek, someone who wanders through my dream, a shadow of pure delight that somehow appears as vividly as if in the flesh.

The middle dissolves into soft, hazy images, love melting on the lips, veiled in mist, held as a wish and set afloat on a sigh. The confession beneath them is simple and sincere: I have felt love so deeply. Even his pleading eyes and the very birds seem to hint at what he feels, and in his chest’s embrace she becomes a princess in a tale of enchantment, his one and only dream, a love, the refrain insists, whose words have no limit.

The close reaches, as so many Sinhala love songs do, for saṃsāra. Their hearts have joined, and he begs her not to slip from this trance and go; the feeling is so uncannily familiar that it must be, he thinks, as if they had met once before in a past life. What is this feeling, and why?, he wonders, and answers with the refrain: you are my one and only dream. Sung as a duet, it is a gentle, spellbound song about a love that feels at once dreamlike and fated.