Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlün Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlün
Bir hâline yetdim kim ‘aynım ne nazar ister
Ne zevk diler gönlüm aslâ ne keder ister
Meyhâne-i vahdetde bir kâr iledir hergiz
Ne geşt ü güzâr eyler ne seyr ü sefer ister
Dîvâne-i sevdâdır bî-‘âr-ı tevellâdır
Leylâsın arar her dem her lahza haber ister
Ser-geşte-i Leylâdır Mecnûn-ı hüveydâdır
Her cây gezer hergiz ne kûy ne şeher ister
Vallâh bilür Allâh dîdâr-ı dil-ârâyı
Gönlüm nice hâhiş-ger cânım ne kadar ister
Her şâm u seher çeşmim ey serv-i hırâmânım
Râh-ı güzerin gözler senden bir eser gözler
Gamzen nice pür-fendir ey dîde-i dildârın
Merdân-ı cihân cümle her lahza hüner ister
Feyz-i nazarındır kim bî-âlet ü bî-esbâb
Hasmânı atar gönlüm ne tîr ne teber ister
Bî-dağdağa-i nâmûs ‘arsa-i melâmetde
Serbâzların görsün her kimse ki er ister
İkrâm ideriz her dem envâr-ı kerâmâtı
Âteş-gehimizden kim feyzâne şerer ister
Ey Mîr Nigârî ol bâde-i melâmâtı
Ben istemezem bi'llâh Sultân-ı kader ister
Manzûr-ı gözümdür tâ bir dilber-i bî-hemtâ
Ne seyr diler gönlüm ‘aynım ne nazar ister
In English
1. I have come to such a state that my eye wants no sight; my heart wishes for no delight and never wants any sorrow.
2. In the tavern of unity it is always busy with one work; it never strolls about, nor does it want to travel or wander.
3. It is a madman of passion, unashamed of tevellâ (love of the Prophet's family); every moment it seeks its Leyla, every instant it wants news.
4. It whirls in pursuit of Leyla, a manifest Majnun; it roams everywhere and never wants a street or a city.
5. By God, God knows how my heart longs for the face of the heart's adorner, how much my soul wants it.
6. O my swaying cypress, every evening and morning my eye watches the road you pass by, watches for a trace of you.
7. O eye of the beloved, how full of wiles your glance is; all the brave men of the world want skill (from it) every moment. (The second half of the line is not entirely clear.)
8. It is the grace of your look that lets my heart, with no weapon and no means, cast down its enemies; it wants neither arrow nor axe.
9. Whoever wants to be a man, let him look at those who stake their heads in the arena of blame, free of the trouble of reputation.
10. We always bestow the lights of wonders on anyone who asks a generous spark from our fire temple.
11. O Mîr Nigârî, by God it is not I who want that wine of blame; it is the Sultan of destiny who wants it.
12. So long as a peerless beloved is before my eyes, my heart wishes for no sightseeing, my eye wants no sight.
Literary and Historical Commentary
The second couplet of this ghazal was published earlier on our site on its own as Couplet 9. The text on that page came from Fatih Çınar's article, and its first line ended "bir kâr iledir herkes": in the tavern of unity everyone is busy with his own work. In Bilgin's edition the same place reads "hergiz", never, at no time. The difference changes the subject of the couplet. Seen within the whole ghazal, the first couplet opens with the heart, and the one busy with a single work in the tavern of unity, never strolling, wanting no travel, is that same heart. The third and fourth couplets continue with the same subject and describe the heart as a Majnun seeking his Leyla. The discussion of the Sufi notion of "seyr ü sefer", journeying, on the single-couplet page settles here into a plainer place: for a Majnun who has found his Leyla no other journey is needed.
The ghazal draws a circle. The opening couplet says the eye wants no sight and the heart no delight; the twelfth repeats this and gives the reason, a peerless beloved stands before the eye. Its last line brings back almost unchanged the close of the opening couplet's second line, "ne nazar ister". A couplet placed after the signature couplet is not a common arrangement in the divan tradition; rather than closing with his pen name, the poet has returned the ghazal to its starting point. Only once, in the sixth couplet, does the refrain change: "gözler" takes the place of "ister", and the word "gözler" is used twice in one line, in the senses of waiting for and looking for.
The ninth and eleventh couplets rest on the notion of melâmet, blame: accepting, even seeking, the reproach of the people. Those who follow this way give up concern for honour and fame, "nâmus dağdağası" in the couplet's words. The poet calls those who stake their heads in this arena "serbâz" and holds them up as the model for anyone who wants to be a man. Blame turns into a wine in the signature couplet, but the poet says it is not he who wants it; the Sultan of destiny does. "Âteşgeh", fire temple, in the tenth couplet is a striking choice: the fire temple of the Zoroastrians becomes in divan poetry the name for the place where the fire of love burns, and anyone who asks a spark of it is given the lights of wonders.
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 169, pp. 107-108. https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/TR-194361/nigari-divani.html
- Fatih Çınar, "Nakşî-Hâlidî Şeyhi Hamza Nigarî'nin İsteğiyle Yazılan Bir Ehl-i Beyti Müdafaa Risalesi: Risâle fî Ta'n li-men Hâlefe Ali Radıyallahu Teâlâ Anh", Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, VII/1, 2019, pp. 125-150; couplet p. 131. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/803338
Online sources
