Mulu Lowa Labunath Lyrics by Milton Perera

Even if I were given the whole world, this would never change:
you are my one treasure, daughter (and to whom, father?)

No matter how much I say it, my words for you have no end
Your mother is like my own two eyes (such good fortune)

If you do wrong, will I really punish you?
Just never lie or cheat anyone (no, I won’t)

Help those who have nothing, who are in need
Wherever you can, give what you have as a good deed (yes, that’s how it is)

Bear sorrow the same way you take comfort
Settle your heart with a smile (yes, yes, that’s good)

In this world, wrongdoing shortens your life
The moon will always remain, daughter (yes indeed, yes indeed)

This is a father talking to his little daughter, passing down the simple rules he wants her to carry through life. There is no heartbreak or longing here, just a parent sitting with his child and telling her, gently, how to be a good person. You can even hear the back and forth between them in the small asides scattered through the song. The daughter pipes up with a question (and to whom, father?), and the father answers and reassures her (yes, that’s how it is), so the whole thing feels less like a lecture and more like a warm, playful conversation at home.

He opens by telling her she matters more than anything. Even if the whole world were handed to him, he says, nothing would change the fact that she is his one treasure. From there he moves into his advice, and it is all plain, everyday goodness: never lie, never cheat, help people who have nothing, and give what you can to those in need. He even softens the idea of discipline, almost asking aloud whether he would ever really punish her, the answer being that he just wants her to be honest, not afraid.

The heart of his lesson is how to carry life itself. Bear your sorrows the same calm way you enjoy your good times, he tells her, and learn to settle your own heart with a smile rather than letting trouble take it over. He ties goodness to life directly when he says that wrongdoing shortens your days in this world, a very Sri Lankan way of linking right living to a long, blessed life.

The last image is the tender one. The moon will always remain, daughter. In Sinhala the moon stands for something steady, pure and lasting, a calm light that comes back night after night. He is telling her that if she lives this way, honest and kind, something good and constant will stay with her, the way the moon always returns to the sky. It is a quiet, loving piece of fatherly wisdom dressed as a song.