Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlün Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlün

Men ‘âşık-ı sevdâyam gönlüm ne şarâb ister
Ne zemzeme-i mutrib ne çeng ü rebâb ister
Leb-teşne-i sevdâyam sönmez ‘ataşam her dem
Deryâlar içersem ger cânım yine âb ister
Dâğ-ı dil ile her ân olmış bedenim biryân
Benden dilesün her kim zevkãne kebâb ister
Gülbâng ile ey mutrib şâdâne salâ eyle
Meyhâneme cân virsün kim mey-i nâb ister
Sahbâm ile mestâne meyhâne bucağında
Şevkãne düşer oynar her kim ki sevâb ister
Meyhâneme kim gelmez çekmez mey-i nâbımdan
İnkâr kılur bâdem bî-şübhe ‘azâb ister
Eltâf-ı İlâhîdir her kim leb-i dilberden
Her lahza niyâz eyler bî-harf hitâb ister
Ey dîde nazar kıl bir gör kim nice bin tâlib
Erinî anı söyler hep keşf-i kıbâb ister
Mikdârını sevdâ ger dilber ne suâl eyler
Hüsnine kıyâs itsün benden ne hisâb ister
Teslîm iledir kârı dildâr ne eylerse
Hergiz ne suâl eyler ‘âşık ne cevâb ister
Ey Mîr Nigârî ger pîrâne serem ammâ
Her yerde içer gönlüm her yerde şarâb ister
Hâl ü hatt-ı dildârân manzûr-ı gözümdür kim
Fermân-ıla ne oynar ne nakş-ı kitâb ister

In English

1. I am a lover of passion; my heart wants neither wine, nor the minstrel's melody, nor harp and rebab.

2. I am one parched for passion, my thirst never fades; though I drink seas, my soul still wants water.

3. With the wound of the heart my body is roasted every moment; whoever relishes kebab, let him ask me for it.

4. O minstrel, call out joyfully with the rose-chant: whoever wants pure wine, let him give his soul to my tavern.

5. Whoever wants divine reward falls, drunk with my red wine, in the corner of the tavern and dances with zeal.

6. Whoever does not come to my tavern and draw from my pure wine denies my wine; doubtless he wants torment.

7. It is among God's kindnesses that whoever pleads every moment with the beloved's lip wants an address without letters.

8. O eye, look, see how many thousand seekers all say "Erinî" (show me) and want the domes uncovered.

9. If the beloved asks the measure of passion, let her measure it by her own beauty; what account does she want from me?

10. (The lover's) work is surrender; whatever the beloved does, the lover never asks a question nor wants an answer.

11. O Mîr Nigârî, though my head has grown old, my heart drinks everywhere and wants wine everywhere.

12. The moles and down of the beloveds are what my eye beholds; (they) neither play by decree nor want the design of a book. (This rendering of the couplet is tentative.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

In the eleventh couplet Nigârî calls himself "pîrâne-ser", old-headed. Despite his age his heart drinks everywhere and wants wine everywhere. In divan poetry the old lover is both a subject of mockery and a boast; that one whose hair has whitened is still fond of wine and the beloved shows that love does not die out with age. For Nigârî, who migrated from Karabakh to Anatolia and died in Amasya, this couplet with the pen name is one of the places where he touches on his own age in verse.

The ghazal begins by refusing wine and ends with wine. In the first couplet the heart wants neither wine, nor the minstrel's tune, nor harp and rebab; the thirst of passion is not quenched even by seas. But from the fourth couplet on the speaker is the owner of the tavern: he tells the minstrel to sing the invitation, calls those who want pure wine to his tavern, and says that whoever denies his wine wants torment. The divine reward of the fifth couplet is a joke: whoever wants reward gets drunk on red wine and dances in a corner of the tavern.

The seventh and eighth couplets name two Sufi ideas. "Bî-harf hitâb", speech without letters, rests on the belief that God's word is free of letter and sound; the lover pleading with the beloved's lip asks for this letterless speech. "Keşf-i kıbâb", the uncovering of the domes, recalls a sacred hadith: "My saints are beneath My domes; none knows them but Me." Thousands of seekers say "Erinî", show me, like Moses, and want the domes over the hidden saints lifted.

The ninth and tenth couplets speak of surrender. If the beloved asks the measure of passion, let her look at her own beauty; the lover gives no account, asks no question, expects no answer. The verb "ister", wants, in the refrain carries all these wishes through twelve couplets.

Bibliography

Online sources