Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Bî-çâre gönül hâsıl-ı câh eylemedim dir
Tahsîl-i rızâ-yı dil-i şâh eylemedim dir
Derdâ ki niçün turmadım ol yâr işiginde
Serv-i keremin âh penâh eylemedim dir
Heyhâ ne ‘aceb hâl-i dil–ârâsını yârin
Manzûr kılup rûyı siyâh eylemedim dir
Hayfâ ki peyini tutmadım ol mihr-‘izârın
Ser-menzilimi hâle-i mâh eylemedim dir
Cürm ile seher ü şâmı geçer nefs-i habîsin
‘Ömrümde ki bir zerre günâh eylemedim dir
Nezzâre-i ruhsâr ile kan akdı gözümden
Bir kerre dahı âh-ı nigâh eylemedim dir
Feryâd ile oynar dil-i Ferhâd-ı şirîn-kâr
Müştâk-ı figãndır yine âh eylemedim dir
Yakdı kamu berbâd eyledi koymadı varım
Dilber hele bir zerre tebâh eylemedim dir
Cân çıkdı talebde yine ey Mîr Nigârî
Kurbiyyet-i dergâh-ı İlâh eylemedim dir

In English

1. The helpless heart says, "I gained no rank, I did not win the favour of the royal-hearted one."

2. It says, "Alas, why did I not stand at that beloved's threshold; ah, I did not take the cypress of generosity as my refuge."

3. It says, "How strange, having beheld the beloved's heart-adorning mole (hâl), I did not blacken my face." (The sense of the couplet is uncertain.)

4. It says, "Pity that I did not follow that sun-cheeked one, did not make the halo of the moon my dwelling."

5. The wicked self passes morning and evening in crime, (yet) says, "In my life I have not committed a speck of sin."

6. Blood flowed from my eye from gazing at the cheek; (yet the eye) says, "Not once did I sigh with a glance." (This rendering of the couplet is tentative.)

7. The heart of Farhad, whose works are sweet, plays with lament; it longs for wailing, yet says, "I did not sigh."

8. The beloved burned it all, laid it waste, left me nothing; and yet she says, "I did not ruin a speck."

9. O Mîr Nigârî, the soul has departed in the search; still it says, "I did not attain nearness to the court of God."

Literary and Historical Commentary

"Dir" in the refrain is the Azerbaijani pronunciation of "der", says, and every couplet ends with words reported from someone's mouth: "... eylemedim", I did not. What makes the ghazal striking is that the speaker of these words changes from couplet to couplet. In the first four couplets the helpless heart speaks and counts its regrets: it grieves that it did not stand at the beloved's threshold, did not shelter under the cypress of generosity, did not follow the sun-cheeked one. In the fifth couplet the words pass to the wicked self: the self that spends morning and evening in crime says it never committed a speck of sin. The same "I did not" is regret in the heart and a lie in the self.

In the eighth couplet the speaker is the beloved. She has burned all the lover has and destroyed his possessions, but says, "I did not ruin a speck." In the seventh Farhad's heart longs for lament and, though it plays with wailing, says "I did not sigh"; here the denial can be understood as the lover's humility or his insatiability. The final words belong to the soul: it has departed on the road of seeking, yet says it has not attained nearness to God's court. "Kurbiyyet", nearness, is in Sufism the name for the servant's drawing near to God.

"Hâl" in the third couplet means both mole and state; the beloved's mole is black, and "rûyı siyâh", a black face, is an expression of shame. A link may have been drawn between the blackness of the mole and the blackening of the face, but the edition does not explain the couplet. The rhyme words, from câh to İlâh, all close on a long "â" and an "h".

Bibliography

Online sources