Hithin Allagath Adare

The love I caught hold of with the heart….

The broken heart aches,
searching for your heart that was bound to it,
the love is still there…
and because I still feel it, I keep searching…
the love that could never be caught by the hand,
the love I caught hold of with the heart….

Memory soothes the heart,
you are everywhere within it…
I know that it is love..
in my heart I feel you near…
the love that could never be caught by the hand,
the love I caught hold of with the heart….

Now and then I write poems..
and in the poems I write, you are there…
your fragrance I still feel…
though not near, you are near…
the love that could never be caught by the hand,
the love I caught hold of with the heart….

A gentle, aching song about a love that lives entirely inside, its title the key to it: hithin allagath aadare, the love I caught hold of with the heart, as opposed to the love athin allaa ganna bariwuu, that could never be caught by the hand. The broken heart aches and keeps searching for the beloved’s heart it was once bound to, because the love, he says, is still there, and precisely because he still feels it, he cannot stop looking.

The middle finds a kind of comfort in memory. Remembering soothes the heart, and she is everywhere within it; he knows it is love, and in his heart he feels her near, even though she is gone. The love has moved inward, from something held in the hand to something held in the mind, and there it survives.

The last verse shows how he keeps it alive: now and then he writes poems, and in every poem he writes, she is there; her fragrance he still feels; though not near, she is near. Sung by Ridma Weerawardena and Kasun Madhushan to words by Dilan Devinda, it is a tender song about a love you can no longer touch but can never quite let go of, one that goes on living in memory, in poems, and in the heart.