Hima Piyali

..a snowflake..
many colours that give fragrance,
though no flowers have bloomed,
even the snowflake is a lonely flower for the winter

many colours that give fragrance,
though no flowers have bloomed,
even the snowflake is a lonely flower for the winter

Flower buds and birdsong belong to the spring,
a memory heavy with dried-up tears belongs to the winter,
only sighs are left, to make my heart smile

The spring that came with smiling eyes and laughter
still, now and then, brings dreams to the winter,
only sighs are left, to comfort my heart

many colours that give fragrance,
though no flowers have bloomed,
even the snowflake is a lonely flower for the winter

many colours that give fragrance,
though no flowers have bloomed,
even the snowflake is a lonely flower for the winter

This is a delicate, melancholy song that reads the heart through the seasons. Its central image is a hima piyali, a snowflake, which the singer calls a lonely flower for the winter, a thing of many colours and even fragrance that appears when no real flowers can bloom. From the first line the snowflake stands in for the singer, beautiful but cold and alone.

The song draws a clean line between two seasons. Flower buds and birdsong, it says, belong to vassana, the spring, the time of love and life; but a memory heavy with dried-up tears belongs to hemantha, the winter. In this winter of the heart, all that is left to him are sighs, the only thing that can even make his heart smile.

And yet the spring is not entirely gone. That spring which once came with smiling eyes and laughter, he says, still, now and then, sends dreams drifting into the winter. But they change nothing in the end; only sighs remain to comfort his heart. It is a quiet, image-rich song about living in the cold season of loss while the warmth of an earlier, happier time visits only in dreams.