Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün

Âbâd olsun o yer zîrâ ki handân oldığım yerdir
Heves-nâk-ı mey-i gülgûn-ı cânân oldığım yerdir
Âbâd olsun Karabağ içre ol yer çünki cânânın
Habîbâne Karakaşına kurbân oldığım yerdir
Âbâd olsun ki bende var hakı gâh u bî-gâhî
Nigâr-ı nâzenîne mest-i mihmân oldığım yerdir
Âbâd olsun dem-â-dem görmesün berbâdlık bir dem
Ki mest-âbâd-ı çeşm-i yâre hayrân oldığım yerdir
Âbâd olsun ki rûy-ı dil-rübâda şems-i mutlakdan
Görüp nûrun ‘alâ nûrin müselmân oldığım yerdir
Âbâd olsun gözüm zîrâ ki bir dest-i dil-ârâdan
Çeküp bâde-i vahdet kâmil oldığım yerdir
Âbâd olsun görem ey tab‘ kim ol şâh-ı hûbânın
Hayâlâtıla sûzâne gazel-hân oldığım yerdir
Âbâd olsun ki ey Mîr Nigârî çeşm-i dilberden
Alup ders-i cünûnı ehl-i ‘irfân oldığım yerdir

In English

1. May that place flourish, for it is where I laughed; it is where I came to long for the beloved's rose-coloured wine.

2. May that place in Karabağ flourish, for it is where I became, like a lover, a sacrifice to the beloved's black brow.

3. May it flourish, for it has a claim on me at every hour; it is where I was a drunken guest of the coy beloved.

4. May it flourish every moment and never see ruin for an instant; for it is where I stood in wonder at the land of drunkards that is the beloved's eye.

5. May it flourish, for it is where, seeing in the heart-stealer's face light upon light from the absolute sun, I became a Muslim.

6. May my eye flourish, for it is where I drank the wine of unity from a heart-adorning hand and became perfect.

7. May it flourish, O my nature, and may I see it; it is where, with the fancies of that king of beauties, I sang ghazals with a burning heart.

8. May it flourish, O Mîr Nigârî, for it is where I took the lesson of madness from the beloved's eye and became one of the people of gnosis.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Every couplet opens with the same wish, "Âbâd olsun", may it flourish, may it prosper. The refrain "oldığım yerdir", it is the place where I was, also points to a place, and the second couplet names it: Karabağ. Nigârî was born in the village of Cicimli in the Zangezur district of Karabağ, grew up there and later emigrated to Amasya. As Bayram notes, having joined the struggle against the Russians in the Caucasus he was cut off from his homeland and lived his whole life in exile. The ghazal reads like a blessing called from that distance. In each couplet the poet recalls once more the place where he became a sacrifice to the beloved's black brow, where he first grew drunk, where he drank the wine of unity and became perfect, where he first sang his ghazals with a burning heart.

The events of the couplets tell together the story of a youthful love and of a spiritual awakening. In the fifth the poet says he saw in the beloved's face "nûrun ‘alâ nûr", light upon light, from the absolute sun, and became a Muslim in that place. "Nûrun ‘alâ nûr" is taken from verse 35 of the sura al-Nur. For a poet born a Muslim to speak of "the place where I became a Muslim" describes the moment when faith was grasped in its real sense: to see God's light in a beautiful face is like believing anew. The wine of unity in the sixth couplet and the "ehl-i ‘irfân", people of gnosis, in the eighth complete this journey; having taken the lesson of madness from the beloved's eye, the poet became in that place one who knows.

The rhyme breaks once, in the sixth couplet: "kâmil" enters the series "handân, cânân, kurbân, mihmân" of the other couplets, and the edition leaves the irregularity unexplained. The closeness of sound between "Karakaş", black brow, and "Karabağ" in the second couplet, on the other hand, is hardly an accident: the "kara" of the place name returns in the beloved's brow.

Bibliography

Online sources