Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Şeydâlığıma bâ‘is bir kâkül-i ‘anberdir
Bir kadd-i sanevberdir bir la‘l-i şirîn-terdir
Geh mest kılur la‘lin geh zevk virür câna
Zîrâ mey-i ahmerdir kand-âb-ı mükerrerdir
Hâk-i kademin ey cân sermâye-i ‘izzetdir
İksîrdir ol cevher ol kibrît-i ahmerdir
Her harf-i sözün el-hak bin câna deger ammâ
Şehd-âb-ı leb-i la‘lin reşk-âver-i kevserdir
Meyl eylemez evrâda ezkârıla uğraşmaz
Tâ mushaf-ı ruhsârın tıfl-ı dile ezberdir
Her niyyet içün andım fi'l-hâl zuhûr itdi
Bu ism ne a‘zamdır ol nâm ne ekberdir
Ol vâ‘iz-i erkamdan ey dil ne elem nûş it
Çün câm-ı zümürrüddür mînâ dahı ahdardır
Her şâm u seher sûzân bî-mecma‘a bî-divân
Eş‘âr okur tab‘ım zîrâ sîne defterdir
Ey Mîr Nigârî ger bî-sîm ü zerem ammâ
Gencîne-i esrâram dil mahzen-i gevherdir

In English

1. The cause of my madness is an ambergris-scented forelock, a stature like a pine and a ruby lip sweeter than sweet.

2. Your ruby lip now makes one drunk, now gives the soul delight; for it is red wine and twice-refined sugar syrup.

3. O soul, the dust beneath your foot is the capital of honour; that substance is the elixir, it is red sulphur (the rarest matter sought by alchemists).

4. Truly every letter of your speech is worth a thousand souls; but the honey syrup of your ruby lip makes even Kawthar envious.

5. The child of the heart turns to no litanies and troubles with no dhikr, now that it has learned the Qur'an of your cheek by heart.

6. Whatever wish I invoked your name for came true at once; what a supreme name (the Greatest Name) this is, what a mighty name.

7. O heart, why fear that spotted serpent of a preacher? Drink, for the cup is emerald and the flask is green as well.

8. Every evening and morning my nature, burning, with no anthology and no divan, recites poems; for the breast is a notebook.

9. O Mîr Nigârî, though I have no silver and gold, I am a treasury of secrets; my heart is a storehouse of jewels.

Literary and Historical Commentary

An old belief of divan poetry, that emerald blinds serpents, is turned against the preacher in the seventh couplet. "Erkam" is a spotted, mottled snake, and the poets drew on the belief often. Nigârî tells his heart not to fear the snake-like preacher but to drink: the cup is emerald, the flask green. Since the serpent that sees the green cup will be struck blind, the preacher cannot see the wine or do it harm. Likening a preacher to a snake is harsh, but joined to the emerald belief it stops being a crude insult and becomes a witticism.

In the middle of the ghazal the beloved is described in the language of scripture and prayer. The heart of the fifth couplet is a child learning the Qur'an by heart at the elementary school, and the scripture it memorises is the beloved's cheek. In divan poetry the face, with its down, is compared to a written page, to a copy of the Qur'an. A child who has memorised this one has no further need of litanies and dhikr. The sixth makes the beloved's name the "ism-i a‘zam", the name held to be the greatest name of God, through which no prayer is refused. Every wish of the poet has come true once that name was spoken.

The third couplet uses the language of alchemy. The elixir is the substance that turns copper into gold, and "kibrît-i ahmer", red sulphur, the matter alchemists sought and almost never found. The dust under the beloved's foot is likened to both: it is what gives the worthless lover his worth. The same language of treasure then turns back on the poet. Nigârî, without silver or gold, is a treasury of secrets and a storehouse of jewels. The eighth couplet, for its part, says where the poetry comes from: the poet reads from no anthology or divan, his breast is the notebook, and the poems come out of it burning.

Bibliography

Online sources