Phoenix Kirilli Lyrics by Sachith Ekanayake

She is a poem, one with no words,
a melody, one with no notes,
her singing turns the night to dawn,
and the light itself turned to darkness,
scattering the ashes of hearts,
kill me, and be born again

Life all alone,
knowing only pain,
love a burning fire,
an uncertain, forbidden dream,
burning the past to ash, drawing life from the ashes,
gaining power from the midst of the fire, she was born,
my beloved moon-maiden,
free within my mind,
in a nest of ash and ember,
the Phoenix bird

The scorn of a whole world,
love scattered and spilled,
heart-shattering roars,
a hundred thousand turnings,
burning the past to ash, drawing life from the ashes,
gaining power from the midst of the fire, she was born,
my beloved moon-maiden,
free within my mind,
in a nest of ash and ember,
the Phoenix bird

A striking, image-dense song that turns a woman, and a love, into the myth of the phoenix, the bird reborn from its own ashes. She is beyond expression: a poem with no words, a melody with no notes; her singing turns night to dawn even as the light around her turns to dark. From the start it sets up her paradox, creation and destruction bound together, and the startling plea, kill me, and be born again.

The heart of the song is rebirth through suffering. Life alone, knowing only pain, love a burning fire, an uncertain, forbidden dream, and out of exactly that, burning the past to ash and drawing life back from those ashes, gaining her strength from within the flames, she is born. He calls her his beloved moon-maiden, free in his mind, nesting in ash and ember: the Phoenix bird, beauty and power risen from what should have destroyed her.

The last verse names what she rose above: the scorn of a whole world, love spilled and wasted, heart-shattering cruelties, a hundred thousand turnings of hardship. And still the refrain returns unchanged, she is reborn from the fire. Sung by Sachith Ekanayake, composed by Tharindu Damsara to words by Lakshantha Brian, it is a powerful tribute to someone, or to a love, that the world tried to burn down and that rose from the ashes stronger, a phoenix made of pain and beauty.