Mage Sudu Duwani

My fair daughter, my beautiful-hearted one,
become a bride, shining like the moon,
our mischievous one, our little chatterbox,
lovely to behold, my fair daughter

When you were small, on my chest,
the way you slept, do you remember, child?
in that fair face of yours I see myself,
in your heartbeat I hear my own breath,
I have been here, just like this, in your life,
and I always will be, this father of yours

Flower bud in the lake of my mother-love,
you guarded her as though she were your own life,
like a friend, in your little brother’s world,
you watched over his sorrows and joys like a mother
in this new life, everything is yours,
and our love, child, is all for you

My fair daughter, all dressed up so beautifully,
on the happy day you leave us and go,
among all the feelings there is some weeping too,
but child, these are tears of joy that fall
in this new life, everything is yours,
and our blessings, child, are all for you

This is a father’s song to his daughter on her wedding day, one of the most tender kinds of Sinhala song there is. He calls her my fair daughter, my beautiful-hearted one, and sends her off to become a bride shining like the moon, while remembering her at the same time as the household’s mischievous, chattering, much-loved girl. It is proud and heartbroken at once.

The middle is pure memory. He recalls how she slept on his chest when she was small, and tells her that in her fair face he still sees himself, and in her heartbeat he hears his own breath. His promise is the emotional centre of the song: I have been here in your life just like this, and I always will be, this father of yours. Marriage and distance change nothing about that.

He then honours the woman she became: a flower bud in the lake of her mother’s love, who guarded her mother as though she were her own life, and who mothered her little brother, watching over his sorrows and joys. And the close lets the tears fall honestly. Dressed beautifully on the day she leaves, there is weeping mixed into the feeling, but, he assures her, these are tears of joy. Everything in this new life is hers; all their love and blessings go with her. Sung by Nalin Perera, it is a warm, moving farewell from a father giving his daughter to marriage and blessing her with his whole heart.