Adara Gangulehi Iwure Rendi Lyrics by Victor Rathnayake

Resting on the banks of love’s river,
the cool breeze sways….
When you are here beside me,
the whole world comes into view //

The flowers, the creepers, the forest and the lake all filled out,
to give us shade, they say
The bees and the birds took flight,
to linger in that sweetness, they say

The full moon rose into the sky too,
to look upon us, they say
Tears wrapped themselves around my eyes,
to weep for love, they say
to weep for love, they say

The honey, the sweet nectar brimmed over,
to settle on our two lips, they say
The rainbow’s arc curved across the sky,
to bathe in your beauty, they say
In this world I was born, my love,
only to find you, they say
And even if I gain nothing besides,
you are my flower of treasure and jewels
you are my flower of treasure and jewels

This is a tender love song where a man describes a quiet moment by a riverbank with the woman he loves, and the feeling that the whole world has arranged itself around the two of them. When she is beside him, he says, the entire world comes into view, as if her presence is what makes everything else worth seeing.

The lovely thing about this lyric is the little word that ends almost every line in the Sinhala, “lu,” which means “so they say” or “it is said.” He uses it again and again, and it turns the whole song into a soft, half-believed legend. The flowers and creepers grew thick, so they say, just to shade the two of them. The bees and birds took to the air, so they say, only to hang in the sweetness of this moment. The full moon climbed the sky, so they say, simply to look down on the lovers. He does not state these things as plain fact; he passes them on like something whispered, and that gentleness is the song’s charm. Nature is not just a backdrop here. The shade, the birdsong, the moonlight, the honey, the rainbow are all imagined as conspiring out of love, doing their small parts for this one couple.

The images build toward devotion. Tears gather and wrap around his eyes, said to be weeping for love itself, so deep is the feeling. Honey and nectar brim over to rest on their lips, the taste of closeness. The rainbow bends across the sky, said to be bathing in her beauty, as though even that arc of color came out just to drink her in. In Sinhala song the moon and the rainbow are the standing images of serene, radiant beauty, and here they are bowing to her.

By the end he lays it all bare. He was born into this world, he says, only to find her. And even if he gains nothing else in life, she is his “isuru manik mala,” his flower of treasure and jewels, the one wealth that makes the rest unnecessary. It is a simple, warm declaration: she is enough, and a whole loving world seems to agree.