Me Mihirima Rathriya Obai Lyrics by Karunarathna Diwulgane

This sweetest night is you,
dreams slowly unfold,
on the resting-place of the moon
I kiss and embrace you in love,
this sweetest night is you

In the cool waters of love,
the young moon flows down along the valley,
hushing the starlight upon the river,
sleep upon my eyes, sweet one

On the banks of the star-honey river,
in the hour bathed in the sandalwood water of love,
watching the trees and leaves stand still,
resting in the warmth of the night moon’s shade

This is a lush, dreamlike romantic song in which the night itself becomes the beloved. This sweetest night is you, the singer says, and as dreams slowly unfold he imagines kissing and embracing her on the sanda yahana, a bed made of moonlight. The whole song lives in that soft, silvered space between waking and sleep.

The imagery is all moon and water. Love is a cool stream, and the young moon flows down along the valley in it, hushing the starlight on the river so that she may sleep upon his eyes. In Sinhala song the moon is the standing image of serene beauty, and here the moon is at once her face and the very light the two of them lie down in.

The last verse deepens the fragrance and the stillness. They rest on the banks of a thaaraka madhu ganga, a river shimmering with starlight like honey, in an hour bathed in sandun diya, sandalwood water, which carries a cooling, almost sacred sweetness. The trees and leaves stand perfectly still, and the two of them rest in the warm shade of the night’s moon. It is less a story than a mood, a song that wraps love in moonlight, water, and scent.