Nawathinna ithin Malaga sanasuma

Stay now, here beside me,
O comfort…… O love…
do not go and leave my weak heart behind…
Stay, stay, lovingly here beside me,
never, ever go and leave me

Even if I looked away,
even if I laid blame on you,
even if I said I did not want you,
do not go and leave me behind…

Stay now, here beside me,
O comfort…… O love…
do not go and leave my weak heart behind…
Stay, stay, lovingly here beside me

Do not grieve your heart, piercing it,
even though my heart grew hard,
even though you were left alone,
even though you were constantly insulted,
do not go and leave me behind…

This is a hymn of pleading, and it is the mirror image of every song in which God promises never to leave us, here it is the human heart begging God’s comforting love not to go. It addresses God tenderly by what he brings, “O comfort, O love,” and its whole cry is one repeated request: “stay now, here beside me, do not go and leave my weak heart behind.”

What makes the song so honest, and so moving, is that the singer knows he has given God every reason to leave. He does not plead his own worthiness; he confesses his failures and asks for grace anyway. “Even if I looked away, even if I laid blame on you, even if I said I did not want you, do not go and leave me.” He has turned his face away, blamed God, even pushed him off, and still he begs the love he mistreated to remain.

The final verse deepens that confession into something almost unbearable in its humility. He asks God not to be grieved, “do not grieve your heart, piercing it,” even though “my heart grew hard,” even though “you were left alone” and “constantly insulted.” He is aware that his coldness has wounded the very love he cannot live without. What the listener is left with is the raw, real prayer of a struggling believer, one who knows he has been unfaithful, hard-hearted and hurtful, and who clings all the more desperately to the God he has wronged, asking only that this comfort, this love, refuse to give up on him and stay.