Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Yâdımdan çıkmaz ol âhû-veşim ra‘nâ gezen yerler
Gelüp kaş oynadup rengîn gözin gökçek süzen yerler
Gülistân bûstâna benzemez Mevlâ bilür başka
Güzel bir hoş mekândır nâzenînim hûb gezen yerler
Güzel râhat-fezâ mahsûd-ı gül-geşt-i musallâdır
Nigârım al ruhsârına güldeste dizen yerler
Gözüm kanlar döker yâd eyledikce cân yanar her dem
Dem-â-dem ‘âşık-ı şeydâ senin bağrın ezen yerler
Âbâd olsun görem ‘uşşâk-ı ser-bâzânıla her dem
Gazâl-i nâzenînim nâzılan cânım üzen yerler
Dem-â-dem arturur idrâkimi zihnim ziyâd eyler
Gönül fikrinle ey mâhım kemâlâtın sezen yerler
Ne hoş nakş-i nigârişdir ki bir dem sîneden gitmez
Nigârî bî-kalem bî-levh tasvîrin yazan yerler

In English

1. Those places where my gazelle-like beloved walked so gracefully never leave my memory; the places where she came, played her brows and narrowed her bright eyes so prettily.

2. They are not like a rose garden or an orchard; God knows, they are something else; the places where my coy beloved walked so finely are a lovely, pleasant spot.

3. The places where my beloved arranged rose posies on her red cheek are lovely and give ease; they are the envy of the rose-walk of Musallâ.

4. As I recall them my eye sheds blood and my soul burns each moment; O mad lover, the places that crush your breast again and again.

5. May they flourish; may I always see them with the lovers who stake their heads: the places where my coy gazelle wearied my soul with her airs.

6. O my moon, the places where the heart, through thought of you, perceived your perfections ever deepen my understanding and enlarge my mind.

7. What a fine portrait of the beloved it is, that never leaves the breast for a moment; the places that wrote your likeness for Nigârî without pen or tablet.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The feeling behind "Âbâd olsun o yer", which stands a little earlier in the divan, seems to carry on here: in both poems the poet recalls from afar the places where he once spent time with the beloved. Here the refrain is "yerler", places, and each couplet carries another memory of them: the places where the beloved played her brows, narrowed her eyes, set rose posies on her cheek and wearied the lover's soul with her coyness. The unnamed site of the ghazal is a place the poet himself calls "Mevlâ bilür başka", God knows it is something else, unlike any rose garden. Ghazal 179, which follows shortly in the divan, is written in the same metre with the same refrain "yerler" and largely the same rhyme words; Nigârî must have returned to this theme more than once.

The "gül-geşt-i musallâ" of the third couplet is the rose-season stroll in the Musalla gardens of Shiraz. The phrase recalls one of Hafez's best-known couplets, where Hafez says that even in paradise one will not find the banks of the Ruknabad stream and the rose-walk of Musalla. Nigârî turns that famous spot into an envious witness beside his own memory: the places where the beloved arranged her posies are lovely enough to make Musalla jealous. Hafez had praised his native Shiraz; Nigârî places the site of his own memory above it.

The rhyme of the seventh and last couplet ends in "yazan", which differs slightly in sound from the "gezen, süzen, dizen, ezen, üzen, sezen" of the other couplets; the couplet's real delicacy, though, lies in its sense. "Nakş-ı nigâriş" means painting and ornament, and contains the poet's pen name, Nigârî. Those places have written the beloved's portrait on Nigârî's breast without pen or tablet, and it is never erased from there for a moment. Here the pen name is read from the same root as the art of painting: Nigârî is the one who carries the picture in his heart.

Bibliography

Online sources