Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘ilün Fe‘ûlün

Olmaz mı bana hasûs ey yâr
Her Ahmede bir Ebû Cehil var
Mevlâ bizi eylemiş ser-efrâz
Ey vâ‘iz-i pest ü ey bed-efkâr
Meyhâne-güzîn [ü] hoş-nişînem
Ey zâhid-i mescid ü riyâkâr
Beyle görünür ki var da‘vet
Bî-gam görünürsün ey ‘alef-hâr
Ey sâkî getür bi-hakk-ı bâde
Âyîne-i ruh-nümâ-yı dildâr
Bî-perde gezer ey dil-ârâ
Yok mı ‘acabâ ki bir taleb-kâr
Bâzârıdır imdi mey-fürûşun
Ey bâde-perest ü ey harîdâr
Ey dil beni imdi bin belâya
Saldın yine söyledin ki esrâr
Esrâr-ı mahabbeti beyân it
Ey tab‘-ı şirîn ü ey şeker-bâr
Nazm eyleyelim rumûz-ı ‘aşkı
Kalsun bu sefîne bizden âsâr
Dildâr dimekden el getürmez
Ger Mîr Nigârî ola berdâr

In English

1. O beloved, should I not have an envier? Every Ahmed has his Abu Jahl.

2. O low and evil-minded preacher, the Lord has raised us high.

3. O ascetic of the mosque, O hypocrite, I am one who has chosen the tavern and sits there content.

4. It seems there is an invitation; O fodder-eater, you look free of care.

5. O cupbearer, for the sake of wine, bring the mirror that shows the beloved's face.

6. O adorner of hearts, (the beloved) goes about unveiled; is there no one, I wonder, who seeks her?

7. O lover of wine, O buyer, now is the wine-seller's market day.

8. O heart, you have now cast me into a thousand calamities once more: you told the secrets.

9. O my sweet, sugar-scattering nature, tell the secrets of love.

10. Let us set the symbols of love in verse; let this ship (this book of poems) remain behind as our legacy.

11. Even if Mîr Nigârî were hanged on the gallows, he would not stop saying "beloved".

Literary and Historical Commentary

The opening couplet carries a saying still used in Turkish: "Every Ahmed has his Abu Jahl." Ahmed is one of the names of the Prophet, and Abu Jahl is remembered as one of his fiercest enemies in Mecca. The saying means that the good will always meet an enemy. Nigârî applies it to himself and asks his beloved whether it is any wonder that he too has a foe. The second and third couplets say who this foe is: the low, evil-minded preacher and the hypocritical ascetic of the mosque. In the fourth the same figure is called "‘alef-hâr", fodder-eater; in a ghazal shortly before, a preacher had already been offered "a bit of fodder".

The metre of the ghazal, "Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘ilün Fe‘ûlün", is a short-lined pattern used in many narrative poems, Fuzuli's Leylâ vü Mecnûn first among them. The short lines give the ghazal a quick, conversational flow, and most couplets end in an address: O beloved, O preacher, O ascetic, O fodder-eater, O wine-lover, O sugar-scatterer.

The last three couplets reopen the tension between telling the secret and keeping it. In the eighth the heart has cast the poet into a thousand calamities by telling the secrets. Yet in the ninth the poet asks his own nature to tell the secrets of love, and in the tenth proposes to set the symbols of love in verse. "Sefîne" means both a ship and a notebook in which poems are collected; the secrets put into verse will remain behind like a ship, a keepsake of the poet. The signature couplet sees the end of this tension on the road of Hallaj: even if Mîr Nigârî is hanged, he will not stop saying "beloved".

Bibliography

Online sources