Oruwaka Pawena Ra Gana Andure Lyrics by Milton Mallawarachchi

Drifting on a boat, in the thick dark of night,
I am a ferryman here, on the cold water.
Drifting on a boat, in the thick dark of night.

Come, rise, O moon, and give me your light.
My world has grown empty, oh, why,
my world has grown empty.
Tell me, quickly, the reason for this sorrow rising in me.
My world has grown empty, oh, why,
my world has grown empty.
Wipe away my darkness, bring me her company,
ease my heart and take this grief away.

Drifting on a boat…

Who will soothe my weariness, lay me down to rest, and smile,
I do not know, where is she,
I do not know.
Who will fill the emptiness in my life and comfort me,
I do not know, where is she,
I do not know.
Cooking the rice till it’s tasty, serving it onto a leaf,
go and find someone, give me someone, to bring it to me.

Drifting on a boat…

A lone ferryman is out on the water in the dead of night, drifting in a small boat through thick darkness with only the cold water around him. That is the whole picture this song paints: one man, far from anyone, feeling the weight of his loneliness in the quiet hours when there is no one to talk to and nowhere to go.

He turns to the moon and asks it to rise and give him light. On the surface he just wants to see his way across the water, but the request runs deeper. His world has gone empty, and he keeps asking why. He wants the moon to explain this sorrow welling up in him, to lift the darkness, both the dark of the night and the dark in his heart, and most of all to bring him “her company.” The moon here is the only bright, gentle thing in his black night, the one presence he can speak to, and he leans on it the way a lonely person leans on anything that listens.

In the second part the ache becomes very plain and very human. He wonders who will ease his tiredness, lay him down to rest and smile at him, who will fill the hollow place in his life. The small, homely image he reaches for says it all: someone cooking rice until it tastes just right, serving it onto a leaf, and carrying it out to him. In village life that simple act, a warm meal made and brought to you, is the picture of being cared for and belonging to someone. He is not dreaming of grand romance. He just wants a person to come home to, a companion who will feed him and wait for him.

So this is a song about loneliness in its quietest, most ordinary form. The ferryman has his work and his boat, but no one beside him, and across the dark water he sends out a wish, half to the moon and half to fate, asking for someone to share his life. The cold water, the thick night, the begged-for moonlight all carry one feeling, the emptiness of a man who has everything except company, and the gentle hope that somewhere out there is the person who will fill it.