Amarasa Pem Rasayen

Stirred through with the immortal-sweet flavour of love,
if you are not here, then I am not upon this earth,
if you are not here, then I am not upon this earth,
stirred through with the immortal-sweet flavour of love….//

The moon, through moon-water, brought its coolness,
and at the sight of you my mind went wild……//
that I was alive at all, I came to know
only through the trembling sound of your heart. . ..//

Stirred through with the immortal-sweet flavour of love….//

Slipping from the stalk of a flower in full bloom,
on a gentle breeze I came to you….//
to lie upon your feet and wither away there,
grant me that, someday…… .//

Stirred through with the immortal-sweet flavour of love ….//

A tender classic love song, drenched in sweetness from its first line: amarasa, the immortal nectar, the flavour of love that runs through the whole song. Its refrain is total devotion, if you are not here, then I am not upon this earth; the singer’s very existence hangs on the beloved. Love here is not one feeling among many but the ground of being alive.

The middle turns to gentle, luminous images. The moon brings its coolness through moon-water, and at the mere sight of the beloved the singer’s mind goes wild with joy. The loveliest line reveals how deep the dependence runs: I knew that I was even alive, she says, only through the trembling sound of your heart, her own life confirmed only by the other’s heartbeat.

The last verse offers the humblest possible wish. Like a blossom slipping from its stalk and carried on a soft breeze, the singer comes to the beloved and asks only this: to be allowed, one day, to lie upon those feet and wither away there. To fade at the feet of the beloved is offered as the sweetest imaginable end. Written by the great lyricist Premakirthi De Alwis and sung by Srimathi Thilakeratne, it is a delicate, worshipful love song about a devotion so complete that the lover’s whole life, and even her dying wish, belong to the one she loves.