Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün

Geldi yine hâtırıma bir eser
Toldı mezâk ile gönül ser-be-ser
İnne mine'ş-şi‘ri le-hikmetden
Söyleme hezyâne ki ey bî-haber
Bil ki kulûbü'ş-şu‘arâdur Hudâ
Mahzen-i esrâr ne sîm ü ne zer
Ehl-i dile serzenişin eylemez
Fâide sana ki sanadır zarar
Ka‘beye her kim ki atar fi'l-mesel
Seng urur gendine kûh-ı keder
Söyle gel ey tab‘ bu güftârdan
Kâşif-i esrârsın ey pür-hüner
Şehd-i leb-i rûh-fezâdan meger
Nûş kılup sen ki saçarsın şeker
Eyleme gam kim yeter imdâdına
Ey dil-i mihnet-zede hayrü'l-beşer
Mîr Nigârî ne elem kim sana
Lutf-ı kerem-kâr kılupdur nazar

In English

1. Again a work (a poem) has come to my mind; the heart is filled with relish from end to end.

2. Not knowing the saying "some poetry is wisdom", O unknowing one, do not call (poetry) raving.

3. Know that the hearts of poets are God's treasury of secrets, not (a treasury) of silver and gold. (The sense of the couplet is uncertain.)

4. Your reproach to the people of the heart brings you no profit; the harm is yours.

5. Whoever, for instance, throws a stone at the Kaaba strikes himself with a stone from the mountain of sorrow. (This rendering of the couplet is tentative.)

6. Come, O nature, speak of this saying; O you full of skill, you are the revealer of secrets.

7. You must have drunk of the honey of the soul-reviving lip, for you scatter sugar.

8. O heart stricken with hardship, do not grieve; the best of mankind (the Prophet Muhammad) will come to your aid.

9. Mîr Nigârî, what pain could there be for you, when the kindness of the Generous One has looked upon you?

Literary and Historical Commentary

This defence of poetry is the first ghazal of the divan's re section. In the second couplet Nigârî takes a phrase from an Arabic hadith: "İnne mine'ş-şi‘ri le-hikmeten", truly some poetry is wisdom. This saying, also transmitted by Bukhari, was among the supports Ottoman poets turned to most often against charges brought against poetry; it showed poetry to be lawful in the face of the censure of poets in the Quranic sura al-Shu‘ara. The poet reminds the unknowing man who calls poetry "hezyân", raving, of this hadith.

The third couplet carries the defence a step further: the hearts of poets are God's treasury of secrets, and in this treasury are kept not gold and silver but secrets. The fourth and fifth couplets address whoever reproaches the people of the heart. The harm of such reproach falls on the one who makes it; whoever throws a stone at the Kaaba brings a stone from the mountain of sorrow down on his own head. The Kaaba comparison makes the poet's heart equal to a sacred place. The edition is silent on these couplets and the rendering is approximate, though what they mean to say is plain.

In the sixth and seventh couplets the poet turns to his own nature. Nature is the power of making poems, and it is praised as "kâşif-i esrâr", the revealer of secrets; it scatters sugar because it has drunk the honey of the beloved's lip. At the end of the ghazal pain gives way to consolation: "hayrü'l-beşer", the best of mankind, will come to the aid of the heart stricken with hardship. The epithet is used for the Prophet Muhammad; the dâl section of the divan opened with the Prophet's name, and the first ghazal of the re section closes by naming him. The run of rhymes opens with "eser", a work, and closes with "beşer" and "nazar", all written with re, the letter of the section.

Bibliography

Online sources