Mama Lyrics by Hashen DulanjanaTharindu Damsara

A thousand light-years away,
at the bottom of a hollow in time,
I light one small dot of light;
I hide away, all around me,
the densely spreading darkness

Beating at the speed of trembling meru-wings,
you have fish-eyes,
piercing my deep heart
that pulses in a dark chamber

Widening my eyes,
I draw out lines with a faint smile;
from here on, for you,
even within the dark, many colours will shine

And so I am,
deep,
still,
motionless

A quiet, almost cosmic love poem, more meditation than song, about being a still, deep source of light for someone. The singer places himself a thousand light-years away, at the bottom of a hollow in time, lighting a single small dot of light and hiding the vast darkness all around. He is something calm and constant, holding back the dark so that one small light can be seen.

The beloved appears as motion against his stillness: fish-eyes that beat as fast as trembling wings, darting and alive, and they pierce straight into my deep heart that pulses in a dark chamber. Where he is deep and quiet, she is quick and bright, and she reaches the very centre of him.

The promise is gentle and sure. Widening his eyes, drawing soft lines with a faint smile, he tells her that from now on, even inside the darkness, many colours will shine for her. And he names what he is, in three bare words: deep, still, motionless, a steady, silent presence that lets her light and colour exist. Sung by Tharindu Damsara and Hashen Dulanjana to words by Chathurika Vinodi Perera, it is an unusual, spacious love song about being someone’s calm, unmoving point of light in the dark.