Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlü Mefâ‘îlü Fe‘ûlün

Sînemdedir ol dâg-ı temennâ-yı Muhammed
Gönlümdedir ol nâr-ı tevellâ-yı Muhammed
Agyâr elemi kalmadı aslâ ki dilimde
Her lahza gezer fikr-i dil-ârâ-yı Muhammed
Her lahza kılur gönlümü reşk-âver-i ‘anber
Efkâr-ı dü gîsû-yı semensâ-yı Muhammed
Eltâf-ı Hudâdır virür îmân-ı hakîkî
Dil-dâdelere zülf-i çelîpâ-yı Muhammed
İsrâda salup velvele mülk-i melekûta
Reftâr-ı şirîn kãmet-i bâlâ-yı Muhammed
Eyyâm u leyâlî heme ser-geşte vü hayrân
Reşk-zede-i leyle-i İsrâ-yı Muhammed
Tâ rûz-ı ezel gönlümü şeydâlığa salmış
Güldeste-i ruhsâre-i hamrâ-yı Muhammed
Birdir gice gündüz bana zîrâ ki serimde
Oynar heme dem berk-ı tecellâ-yı Muhammed
El-minnetü li'llâh menem rûz-ı ezelden
Pervâne-i esmâ-yı müsemmâ-yı Muhammed
Ser-halka-i rüsvây ü ser-hayl-i cünûnem
Tâ kim olubam ‘âşık-ı şeydâ-yı Muhammed
Ey Mîr Nigârî bana mahsûs u müsellem
Ser-hıdmet-i meyhâne-i sevdâ-yı Muhammed
Açmış ki şirîn tab‘ımı tûtî gibi söyler
Evsâf-ı leb-i la‘l-i şeker-hâ-yı Muhammed

In English

1. In my breast is that wound of longing for Muhammad; in my heart is that fire of devotion (tevellâ) to Muhammad.

2. No trace of the pain strangers (rivals) cause is left in my heart; for every moment the heart-adorning thought of Muhammad wanders (within it).

3. Every moment thoughts of the two jasmine-scented locks of Muhammad make my heart (so fragrant that it is) the envy of ambergris.

4. Muhammad's curling tress is among God's kindnesses; it gives true faith to those who have given their hearts.

5. The sweet gait of Muhammad's tall stature cast a tumult into the realm of the angels on the night of the Isrâ.

6. The days and the nights are all bewildered and amazed; they envy the night of Muhammad's Isrâ.

7. The bouquet of roses of Muhammad's red cheek has cast my heart into frenzy since the day of pre-eternity.

8. Night and day are one to me, for in my head the lightning of Muhammad's manifestation plays at every moment.

9. Thanks be to God, since the day of pre-eternity I am the moth of the names of Muhammad, whose name befits the one named. (The sense of the couplet is uncertain.)

10. Since I became a frenzied lover of Muhammad I am the head of the ring of the disgraced, the leader of the troop of madness.

11. O Mîr Nigârî, the chief service in the tavern of passion for Muhammad is mine alone and granted to me.

12. (This passion) has so opened my sweet nature that, like a parrot, it tells the qualities of Muhammad's sugar-eating ruby lip.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The section of the letter dâl opens with a poem in praise of the Prophet, and every couplet of the ghazal ends with his name, "Muhammad". Written in Arabic letters as "محمد", the name ends in dâl; placing it in the refrain of the first ghazal of the section ties the order of the divan to love for the Prophet. Every phrase before the name ends in a long "â"; from temennâ to şeker-hâ that sound never changes.

The word "tevellâ" in the first couplet is a term in the Shiite and Alevi tradition. Tevellâ is holding as friends the Prophet, his household and those who love them; its counterpart teberrâ is keeping away from their enemies. Nigârî names his devotion to the Prophet with this word and shows it as a fire burning in his heart. The rest of the ghazal builds the praise poem like a love ghazal: the Prophet's two locks are scented with jasmine, his tress curls, his cheek is a bouquet of red roses, his lip a ruby. Using the images of the beloved for the Prophet is the language of love for Muhammad in Sufi poetry.

The fifth and sixth couplets name the night of the Isrâ. The Isrâ is the Prophet's being carried one night from Mecca to Jerusalem, and it is told together with the Ascension that followed. The poet says that the Prophet's walk through the heavens that night stirred the world of the angels, and that all other days and nights envy it.

"Esmâ" and "müsemmâ" in the ninth couplet mean the names and the one named. The poet counts himself the moth of these names; it may also be meant that the name Muhammad, "much praised", befits the one who bears it. The last couplet brings the image of the parrot: in divan poetry the parrot feeds on sugar and speaks; the poet's nature, telling of the Prophet's sugar lip, likewise speaks like a parrot. The pen name sits in the eleventh couplet, one before the end.

Bibliography

Online sources