[Intro — soft wind, distant chimes]
Haa-aa-aa… yaa-lee-yaaa…
Ooooh… ahh-yaa-reee…
[Verse 1]
Golden sky is trembling in the distance
Shadows melt beneath my tired feet
Every step a whisper of resistance
Every breath a burning desert heat
Salt upon my lips like silent thunder
Eyes half-closed against the blinding light
Is it real — the river that I wander
Or another dream that fades from sight
[Pre-Chorus]
The air is bending… calling my name
A silver shimmer inside the flame
[Chorus — soaring female high notes]
Aaah-ya-lee-yaa-naaa — I follow the mirage
Through waves of fire in the endless mirage
Ooooh-ha-ree-yaa-naaa — my voice like the sand
Slipping through time from my trembling hands
La-ee-la-ee-laaa — hear the desert sing
A thousand stars in the heat it will bring
Haa-ya-ree-yaa-naaa — I’m lost but I rise
Carried by wind under copper skies
[Verse 2]
Distant dunes are rolling like an ocean
Frozen tides of amber and of gold
I can feel the sky in slow commotion
Like a story only silence told
Footprints vanish just as they are made
Memories drift like smoke into the sun
In this land of light and endless shade
I am many — yet I’m only one
[Pre-Chorus]
The horizon shivers… pulling me near
A phantom river I almost hear
[Chorus — stronger, higher ad-libs]
Aaah-ya-lee-yaa-naaa — I follow the mirage
Through veils of heat in the desert mirage
Ooooh-ha-ree-yaa-naaa — my cry turns to flame
Dancing like stars that forget their name
La-ee-la-ee-laaa — wind on my skin
A trembling echo buried within
Haa-ya-ree-yaa-naaa — I won’t disappear
Even in silence my song is here
[Bridge — haunting vocal run / Arabic-style melisma]
Ahh-yaa-yaa-yaa-yaa-reeee…
Lee-yaa-naa-haa-reee-yaa-naa…
Ooooh-la-haaa… la-haaa… la-haaa…
(soft echo) Water… water…
[Final Chorus — powerful & airy]
Aaah-ya-lee-yaa-naaa — I am the mirage
A flicker of hope in the desert mirage
Ooooh-ha-ree-yaa-naaa — I soar in the blaze
A voice made of sun and wandering haze
La-ee-la-ee-laaa — night will arrive
Cool silver stars keeping dreams alive
Haa-ya-ree-yaa-naaa — the sands set me free
Lost in the desert… I finally see
[Outro — fading high notes]
Haa-aa-aa… yaa-lee-yaaa…
Ooooh… ahh-yaa…
