Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün

Nevâsız dönmezem bâb-ı keremden ey nevâ-peymâ
Yetîmem bî-nevâyam sâilem miskîn-terem zîrâ
Kemâlim–çün degül eş‘âr-ı dil-sûzum ki yanmış cân
Şarâb-ı vasf-ı la‘linle tesellî eylerem mahzâ
Mezemmet eyledin şu‘râyı ammâ ehl-i îmânın
Kılup nâzımların memdûh u mümtâz itdin istisnâ
Der-i ülfetle açdın nutkını şu‘râ-yı İslâmın
Cevâhir eyledin manzûm-ı la‘lin tab‘ını deryâ
Beni dîvâne-i eş‘âr-gû kıldın melâmetle
Dağıtdın cümle efkârım cem‘ itdin başıma sevdâ
Ta‘aşşuk bâdesin nûş eyledikce şevkım arturdun
Ki kıldım rûz-ı ülfetle mahabbet-nâmeyi imlâ
Nigârî şi‘r-sâzın dem-be-dem sadrın güşâd eyle
Ki manzûmâne evsâf-ı cemîlin eylesin inşâ

In English

1. O you who measure out provision, I shall not turn back from the door of generosity without my share; for I am an orphan, destitute, a beggar, the poorest of the poor.

2. My heart-burning poems are not for displaying any perfection; my soul is on fire, and I console myself only with the wine of praising your ruby lip.

3. You condemned the poets, but you made the poets of the people of faith praised and distinguished and set them apart.

4. You opened the speech of the poets of Islam through the door of intimacy; you made the verse of your ruby lip jewels and their nature a sea.

5. You made me a madman who composes poems amid reproach; you scattered all my thoughts and gathered passion upon my head.

6. As I drank the wine of love you increased my ardour, so that on the day of intimacy it was I who dictated the letter of love.

7. Open and widen at every moment the breast of Nigârî the poet, so that he may set down your fair attributes in verse.

Literary and Historical Commentary

In this ghazal Nigârî gives his own answer to the question of whether writing poetry is legitimate. The third couplet rests on the last verses of the Quranic sura al-Shu‘arâ (The Poets): there it is said that the erring follow the poets, that poets wander bewildered in every valley and say what they do not do, after which those who believe and do good works are set apart from this judgement. The poet reads this exception in his own favour. The line between condemned poetry and praised poetry passes through faith, and the "şu‘arâ-yı İslâm", the poets of Islam, stand on the right side of it.

The one addressed in the ghazal is evoked through the beloved's lip (la‘l), but is also an authority who judges poets, sets them apart and exalts them. Like the previous ghazal, this one stands between the language of the beloved and turning towards God. In the second couplet the poet says that his poems are not a display of skill: they are a burning soul given voice, and his only consolation is to praise the beloved's lip. The word "melâmet" in the fifth couplet matters. Melâmet is the Sufi attitude of accepting public blame while concealing, or exposing, one's inner state; traces of this attitude are frequent in Nigârî's poetry. Here the poet accepts reproach as the price of a passion that turns into poetry.

In the first couplet the word "nevâ" works with two meanings. Nevâ means both sustenance, one's portion, and melody, sound; "bî-nevâ" is destitute, and "nevâ-peymâ" the one who measures out and distributes provision. In a ghazal whose subject is poetry it can hardly be chance that the word also carries the sense of melody: the poet is a beggar at the door asking for both bread and voice. The last couplet reaches towards another sura. The prayer "sadrın güşâd eyle", open and widen his breast, recalls the verse of the sura al-Inshirâh that begins "Did We not open your breast for you". The poet asks for his own breast to be opened too, so that he may put the beloved's attributes into poetry.

Two of the rhymes speak directly to the subject of the poem: "imlâ" in the sixth couplet means to dictate, "inşâ" in the last to compose, and each completes the other. The remaining rhymes (zîrâ, mahzâ, istisnâ, deryâ, sevdâ) end in the same long "â"; the metre is "mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün".

Bibliography

Online sources