Raa Lyrics (රෑ) by Tharindu Damsara

The night she is here, I am not,
the night she is here, I am gone,
she does not rise every night,
the night she is here, I am gone

Draping her whole body in flowers,
tearing away the veil of mist,
laying me down inside a dream,
she goes, attended by the stars

Hidden away in a bed of cloud,
she stirred up my heart,
and left me all alone in the world,
o moon-doe, why did you go?

The night she is here, I am not,
the night she is here, I am gone,
she does not rise every night,
but there is no night for me without her

A short, dreamlike love song built on a haunting paradox: the night she is here, I am not. The beloved is written as the moon, appearing only on certain nights, and the singer feels erased by her, present and absent at once. She does not rise every night, and on the nights she does, somehow he is gone.

The imagery is pure moonlit fantasy: she drapes her whole body in flowers, tears away the veil of mist, lays him gently inside a dream, and then departs attended by the stars, a celestial figure moving across the night sky. She belongs to the heavens, not to him.

The ache lands in the last turns. Hidden in a bed of cloud, she stirred up his heart and then left him all alone in the world, and he calls after her, o moon-doe (sanda saviye), why did you go? The song closes by resolving its own paradox: she may not rise every night, but there is no night for me without her. Sung and written by Tharindu Damsara, it is a brief, wistful song about loving someone as distant and fleeting as the moon, and being unable to live a single night without her.