Kandula Niwannam (Remake) Lyrics by Priyani Jayasinghe

I will wipe away your tears so your eyes never grow wet
I will stay by your side so you are never left alone
I will live in your memory so you never forget me
I will offer up my love so your heart is never hurt
I will offer up my love so your heart is never hurt

The flower bud opens among the thorns
not so its petals can wither and fall

The flower bud opens among the thorns
not so its petals can wither and fall
Love is given so that love can be received
not to wound the heart and leave it crying

The moon rises in a world that has no sun
to drive the thick darkness away

The moon rises in a world that has no sun
to drive the thick darkness away
Love is given to the one left alone in the dark
to bring a little light into that heart

This is a gentle love song built as a promise. A young man is making a vow to the person he loves, and he says it as plainly and tenderly as you can: I will wipe your tears, I will stay beside you, I will live in your memory, I will never let my love be the thing that hurts you. There is no chasing or pleading here. The whole song is the quiet voice of someone telling another person, you are safe with me.

What makes it land is the way the second half turns to images from nature to explain what real love is for. He says a flower bud opens among the thorns, but not so that its petals can wither and fall. In Sinhala song the flower is the soft, beautiful thing that grows in a hard place, and the thorns around it are all the pain life can bring. A bud does not bloom just to die. In the same way, he says, love is given so that love can come back, not to wound the heart and leave it in tears. Love that hurts the one you love is not love at all.

Then he reaches for the moon. The moon rises in a world that has no sun, he sings, to push away the thick darkness. This is one of the oldest pictures in Sinhala lyric, the moon as the gentle light that shows up exactly when everything is dark. He is saying that love is that moon. When someone is sitting alone in the dark, love is what arrives to bring a little light into their heart. He is telling his beloved that this is the kind of love he is offering, not something that excites or dazzles, but something that comforts, the calm glow that makes the loneliness bearable.

By the end you are left with the feeling of being looked after. The song is one long reassurance, and its beauty is in how modest it is. He is not promising the world. He is promising to dry the tears, to stay close, to be the small light in the dark. For anyone who has ever needed exactly that from another person, the song hits home.