Aaye Epa Lyrics by Udaya Sri Wickramasinghe

You didn’t speak to me the way you always did,
the smile you always brought isn’t on your lips,
hiding your love-talk, as if in anger,
I cannot make sense of this wonder in you

I don’t even know what the matter is,
you conjure up a lie and make your accusations,
you go off, deceiving me, abandoning me, leaving me behind,
a lover doesn’t come begging you for your love

No more, please, of the false, masked tales,
the smile that deceived me all through the dream,
becoming a mirage in the middle of life’s desert,
your love that stopped, no more,
no more…….

Though we talked sleepless through the three watches of the night,
though I laid you deep in my heart and loved you,
though all my life I wished only for you,
why are these frowns in those eyes of yours?

Like a cloud in a dark sky,
a shadow forms in that fierce wind,
a great downpour drags across the horizon I can see,
a girl’s pleading does not go begging for love

No more, please, of the false, masked tales,
the smile that deceived me all through the dream,
becoming a mirage in the middle of life’s desert,
your love that stopped, no more,
no more…….

I don’t want any more fairy-tales,
the love-fantasy you built and told me has turned bitter,
even when I told the truth, swearing the love held in my heart,
you always went looking, weaving up false faults of mine,
though we talked for minutes, hours, whole watches,
even now we don’t fit together for a single second,
the ever-bewildering, deceiving smile,
the “art” you spoke of, the flattering, coaxing talk,
the love-filled scene, performed without ever being acted,
the time has come, so slip quietly out from behind the curtain,
those love-words and deeds of that time have faded and gone,
there’s no more room in this heart to be deceived,
it wasn’t over you my heart was lost,
there are no memory-notes at the bottom of my heart today,
so no more, now, of the masks and the illusions

A wounded, disillusioned heartbreak song about seeing through a love that turned out to be a performance. It opens with small, telling changes: she no longer speaks to him as she used to, the smile she always wore is gone from her lips, she hides her old affection as if in anger, and he cannot make sense of it. When he asks what is wrong, she conjures lies and hurls accusations, and leaves, and he draws a proud line: a lover doesn’t come begging you for your love.

The refrain is the song’s title and its verdict, aaye epa, no more: no more of the false, masked tales, no more of the smile that deceived him all through the dream, no more of a love that became a mirage in the middle of life’s desert. Even after sleepless nights of talk and a whole life of wishing only for her, he is met with frowns; the sky darkens, a great downpour drags across the horizon, and he refuses, at last, to keep pleading.

The last, longest verse is his clear-eyed goodbye. He wants no more fairy-tales; the love-fantasy she built has turned bitter; however honestly he swore his love, she kept weaving up false faults against him. For all their hours of talk, they never fit together for a single second. He names the whole thing as theatre, a love-filled scene performed without ever being acted, and tells her, gently but finally, that the time has come to slip out quietly from behind the curtain. There is no room left in his heart to be fooled: so no more, now, of the masks and illusions. Written and sung by Udaya Shree, it is a mature, unflinching song about walking away from a love you have realised was never real.