Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ey sanem şehdâbe-i la‘l-i şeker-bârın lezîz
Zehr-i düşnâmın şirîn telh-âb-ı güftârın lezîz
Cilve-gâhındır nazar-gâhım ki cân tek ‘aynıma
Şîve-i nahl-i hırâmın kebk-reftârın lezîz
Güft-gûyun âb-ı hayvândır ki bahş eyler hayât
Cân virür kandâbe-i la‘l-i revân-vârın lezîz
Yâd-ı adın zevk-efzâdır velâkin bî-bedel
Sohbetin kand-i mükerrer câna tekrârın lezîz
Ey kılan mahrûm ey bîmâr-ı hicrân eyleyen
Mübtelâ-yı firkate efkâr-ı dîdârın lezîz
Hoş gelür dildâra ey dil âhın âh it kim müdâm
Ol gül-i ruhsâre feryâd-ı şerer-bârın lezîz
Meclis-i ‘uşşâka bahş eyler safâ-ender-safâ
Nazm-ı şîrînin Nigârî şehd-i eş‘ârın lezîz
Tûtî-âsâ söyle ey tab‘-ı Hudâ-dâdım kim ol
Medh-i dildârında evsâf-ı şeker-bârın lezîz

In English

1. O idol (beauty), the honeyed draught of your sugar-raining ruby lip is delicious; the poison of your abuse is sweet, the bitter water of your speech is delicious.

2. The place where I gaze is the place where you display yourself; for the grace of your swaying like a palm shoot, your partridge gait, which is like the soul to my eye, is delicious.

3. Your talk is the water of life that grants life; the sugar-water of your flowing ruby lip (revân, which also means soul) gives life and is delicious.

4. Recalling your name increases delight, yet it has no equal; your conversation is twice-refined sugar, and its repetition to the soul is delicious.

5. O you who deprive me, who make me sick with separation; to one stricken by separation, thoughts of your face are delicious.

6. O heart, your sigh pleases the beloved, so sigh; for to that rose-cheeked one your spark-raining cry is always delicious.

7. Nigârî, your sweet verse bestows delight upon delight on the lovers' gathering; the honey of your poems is delicious.

8. O my God-given nature, speak like a parrot; for in praise of the beloved her sugar-raining qualities are delicious. (The sense of the couplet is uncertain.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

The first couplet turns bitter into sweet. The honeyed draught of the beloved's lip is delicious, and so too is the poison of her abuse sweet and the bitter water of her speech delicious. In divan poetry even the beloved's abuse of the lover counts as a favour, for the lover would rather hear abuse from her than no word at all. The sixth couplet applies the same reversal to the lover himself: his spark-scattering cry is delicious to the beloved. One gives the other a taste through abuse, the other through lament.

The refrain "lezîz" was also used in the cupbearer rubai just before in the divan, and in the quatrain before that it took the form "elezz", more delicious; this second ghazal of the zâl section sets the word at the end of every couplet. In each couplet delight is tied to a different sense: the taste of the lip, the sight of the swaying gait, the sound of speech, the mention of the name, the thought of the face, the hearing of the cry, the honey of poetry.

In the second couplet the beloved's gait is described with two comparisons. "Nahl" is a young date palm and shows the swaying of a tall, slender stature; "kebk-reftâr", partridge gait, is the familiar divan image for a beauty's light, coquettish step. "Kand-i mükerrer", twice-refined sugar, in the fourth couplet is here tied to the repetition of conversation. With the pen name in the seventh couplet comes praise of the honey of his own poetry; in the last he counsels his nature to speak like a parrot.

Bibliography

Online sources