Awaraye Premaya Lyrics by Manula Nipun

On the young breast crossed with fine lines,
the hurting places, though they died, from love,
the eye grows wet from the memory of you,
bringing the season of darkness to an end

Where we lingered in the season before,
scattering the petals of memory to the ground,
drawing near to the flower that bloomed out of season,
take in its fragrance, with a smile,
in this spring

The stars that erased their loneliness by drawing near the moon,
on the day they come falling from the sky,
keep a small clot of sighs well hidden,
and drop it, secretly, into a man’s heart,
in this spring

A delicate, melancholy love song about a love that comes out of season, awaraye, and a wounded heart slowly reopening. On a young breast scored with fine lines, the singer says, the hurting places, though they once died of love, grow wet again from the memory of the beloved, and that very memory is what ends the season of darkness, thimira sruthuwa. Grief is quietly giving way.

The middle turns toward tentative renewal. At the place where they lingered in the earlier season, he scatters the petals of memory on the ground, and invites the beloved to draw near the flower that bloomed out of season, a love arriving at the wrong time, and simply take in its fragrance with a smile, in this spring. Better to enjoy the unexpected bloom than mourn its lateness.

The last verse is exquisite and a little sad. Even the stars that once cured their loneliness by nestling close to the moon must, one day, fall from the sky; and so, it says, keep your small clot of sighs hidden, and let it drop, secretly, into a man’s heart, in this spring. Love, and its ache, are passed on quietly, in secret. Sung by Manula Nipun, composed by Tharindu Damsara to words by Lakmal Dinushan, it is a tender, poetic song about love that arrives late and out of season, and the fragile beauty of letting yourself feel it anyway.