Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün

Bir nazar kıl ey sanem gözden akan deryâya bah
Gök yüzin tutmuş dem-â-dem âhiş-i bî-pâye bah
Tutma avratlar tarîkın ey gönül merdâne gel
‘Arsa-i sevdâya gir erler tutan gavgãya bah
Subh u şâm eyler nidâ-yı men yezîd dellâl-ı ‘aşk
Al hevâ-yı zülfi cânınla şirîn sevdâya bah
‘Aşk bâzârında nâmûs âr kâr itmez belî
Perde-i ‘ısmetden el çek dâmen-i rüsvâya bah
Zeyd-âsâ ‘aşk-ı Zeynebden dem urma kûyda
Kıl beyâbân seyrini Mecnûn gibi sahrâya bah
Çeşme noksandır kevâkib seyri ey dil subh u şâm
Arturur göz nûrını hûrşîd-i ruhsâr-âya bah
Virme ey Seyyid Nigârî gayra göz hergiz velî
Dâmen-i sevdâya el ur Hazret-i Mevlâya bah

In English

1. O idol (beauty), grant a glance, look at the sea flowing from my eye; look at the boundless sighing that covers the face of the sky every moment.

2. O heart, do not take the way of women, come like a man; enter the field of passion, look at the fight in which the brave engage.

3. Morning and evening the crier of love calls out "Who bids more?"; buy the passion for the tress with your soul, look at the sweet bargain (sevdâ).

4. Yes, in the bazaar of love honour and shame are of no use; take your hand from the veil of chastity, look at the skirt of the disgraced.

5. Do not, like Zeyd, speak in the street of your love for Zeyneb; go out to wander the wilderness, look at the desert like Majnun. (The edition gives no gloss; the sense is approximate.)

6. O heart, watching the stars morning and evening brings loss to the eye; look at the sun that adorns the cheek, which increases the eye's light. (The couplet has been understood approximately.)

7. O Seyyid Nigârî, never give your eye to another; lay hold of the skirt of passion, look at the Hazret-i Mevlâ.

Literary and Historical Commentary

In the third and fourth couplets love is described as a market place. Morning and evening the crier calls out "men yezîd", who bids more, an old cry used at auction to raise the price of goods. The price asked of the buyer is the soul: the passion for the tress is to be bought with one's life. The word "sevdâ" works here in two senses. In divan poetry it is the passion of love and the madness it brings, but in Persian it also means trade, a bargain. "Şîrîn sevdâya bah", look at the sweet sevdâ, points both to a sweet passion and to a sweet bargain. The fourth couplet states the rule of this market: in the bazaar of love honour and shame are of no use; the buyer must let go of the veil of chastity and cling to the skirt of disgrace.

The contrast of "erler", men, and "avratlar", women, in the second couplet is a formula of the poetry of the period for courage set against timidity; the heart is asked to enter the field of passion boldly and join the fight of the brave. Which story is meant by Zeyd and Zeyneb in the fifth couplet is not explained in the edition. Zeyd appears in the example sentences of Arabic grammar books as the name of an ordinary person; the couplet may be comparing the common lover who speaks of his love in the street with Majnun who goes out into the desert.

The last couplet can be understood in two ways. "Hazret-i Mevlâ" is a title used for God. In the Shiite and Alevi tradition, however, the name "Mevlâ" is also given to Ali; in Nigârî's divan Ali's sword Zulfiqar is called "Seyf-i Mevlâ", the sword of the Mevlâ. On either reading, the place the poet is to look, having been told not to give his eye to another and to cling to the skirt of passion, stands above all the market and battlefield scenes of the ghazal. Here too the section's letter, "hı" (خ), stands at the end of the refrain "bah" (look).

Bibliography

Online sources