Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ser-menzil-i dilberden geldi yine bir server
Bir kerre hücûm itdi feth eyledi bin Hayber
Zencîr-i mücevherdir gör kim neye müncerdir
Silsile-i ekberdir silsile-i Mîr Hayder
Ol çeşm-i karadan bu sevdâ başıma geçmiş
Salmış beni sahrâya ol âhû-yı müşgîn-ter
Bu zülf-i semensânı ol kâkül-i reyhânı
Gülzâr-ı tevellâda andukça yağar ‘anber
Takrîr iderem her dem evsâf-ı dil-ârâdan
Bin zevk bulur cânım itdükce dilim ezber
Ol la‘l-i dil-ârâmın ol ‘ârız-ı gül-fâmın
Ol dem ki düşer yâda çeşminden akar ter ter
Esrâr hücûm itdi aldı ele bir nâme
Bu tab‘-ı şirîn-hâme yazdı yine bir defter
Bir tûtî-i şekker-hâ yok mı ‘acabâ imdi
Zevk eyleye şîrîn-ter efşâr iderem şekker
Ey Mîr Nigârî bu esrâr-ı İlâhîdir
Nazm eyleyelim cem‘ it olmaz beyle bir gevher

In English

1. From the beloved's lodging there came again a commander; he attacked once and conquered a thousand Khaybars.

2. It is a jewelled chain, see what it leads to: it is the greatest of lineages, the lineage of Mîr Hayder.

3. This passion came upon my head from that black eye; that most musk-scented gazelle has driven me into the desert.

4. Whenever this jasmine-scented tress, that basil-like forelock, is recalled in the rose garden of tevellâ, ambergris rains down.

5. Every moment I expound the qualities of the heart's adorner; my soul finds a thousand delights as my tongue learns them by heart.

6. Whenever that heart-soothing ruby lip, that rose-coloured cheek, comes to mind, tears flow from my eye drop after fresh drop.

7. Secrets stormed in and took a letter in hand; this sweet-penned nature has written a notebook full once more.

8. Is there now no sugar-eating parrot, I wonder, to take delight? I am pressing out sweeter sugar. ("Efşâr" is rendered here by conjecture.)

9. O Mîr Nigârî, these are divine secrets; let us set them in verse, gather them, for no jewel like this can be found.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The first two couplets weave the language used for the beloved together with the name of Ali. The "server", commander, who comes from the beloved's lodging attacks once and conquers a thousand Khaybars. Khaybar is the fortified town north of Medina whose conquest Islamic tradition associates with Ali's valour; his tearing off of the fortress gate is often told in legend. The name "Mîr Hayder" appears openly in the second couplet. Hayder, the lion, is Ali's epithet. The "zencîr", chain, of the couplet is at first sight the beloved's jewelled tress, but the poet calls it "silsile-i ekber", the greatest chain. Silsile is the word for the spiritual chain running from guide to guide in the Sufi orders and, in genealogy, for the line descending from ancestor to ancestor.

Nigârî knew himself to be a sayyid, a descendant of the Prophet, and elsewhere in the divan he refers openly to his Husayni, Haydari descent; his family tree also includes ancestors bearing the name Haydar. The phrase "silsile-i Mîr Hayder" can therefore be read as joining the lover bound to the chain of the tress and the poet bound to the line of Ali. The "gülzâr-ı tevellâ", the rose garden of love for the Prophet's family, in the fourth couplet supports this reading: as the beloved's tress is recalled in that garden, ambergris rains down.

The second half of the ghazal reflects on poetry itself. Secrets storm in upon the poet in the seventh couplet, and his "sweet-penned" nature writes a notebook full of verse. In the eighth the parrot image this time describes the listener: the poet is pressing out and scattering sugar, but he asks whether there is any sugar-eating parrot left to enjoy it. In the signature couplet what has been written is named divine secrets, and the poet proposes to gather them and set them in verse. The doubling "ter ter" in the sixth couplet conveys tears running from the eye fresh and drop by drop.

Bibliography

  • Nigârî, Nigârî Dîvânı, ed. A. Azmi Bilgin, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Kütüphaneler ve Yayımlar Genel Müdürlüğü, 2017 (e-book, Kültür Eserleri Dizisi 482), poem 168, p. 107. https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/TR-194361/nigari-divani.html
  • Aytekin Şenzeybek, "Hamza Nigârî'nin Farklı İslam Yorumlarına Yaklaşımı", Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 47, 2019, pp. 429-444.

Online sources