Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

İkãmet-sâz der-i kûyundan ayrılmaz dil-i şeydâ
Reved Mecnûn kocâ ez âsitân-ı hayme-i Leylâ
Ümîdim böyledir kim ölmedin evvel görem rûyun
Eger kim görmesem hayfâ bana vâveylâ vâveylâ
Nevâ-yı nây tek nâle-i kelbin câna kâr eyler
Kılur te’sîr zîrâ nagme-i âheng-i şûr-efzâ
Meger kim bâr virmez nahl-i âhım yohsa kim senden
Umulmaz bî-keremlik ‘âlem içre ey kad-i bâlâ
Leb-i la‘lin temennâsında yanmış bağr-ı pür-hûnum
Gözüm yaşından almış mâye-i şûr-engîz-i deryâ
Cihân bâğında ey gül âh u feryâdım bülend midir
Beni rüsvâ seni meşhûr-ı ‘âlem eyleyen mahzâ
Habîbim bunca feryâd u figãnından haber sormaz
Degül bî-ma‘nî ey Mîr Nigârî bî-haber sanma

In English

1. The love-mad heart has settled at your door and does not leave it; where would Majnun go from the threshold of Leylâ's tent? (The second line is in Persian: "Reved Mecnûn kocâ ez âsitân-ı hayme-i Leylâ", where would Majnun go from the threshold of Leylâ's tent.)

2. My hope is to see your face before I die; if I do not, alas for me, woe is me, woe.

3. The whimpering of the dog at your door reaches the soul like the melody of the reed flute; for it works like the tune of a harmony that heightens rapture.

4. It seems the date palm of my sighs bears no fruit; otherwise, O tall one, no lack of generosity is to be expected from you in the world.

5. My blood-filled breast has burned with longing for your ruby lips; the sea has taken the leaven of its turbulence from the tears of my eyes.

6. O rose, do my sighs and cries rise loud in the garden of the world; it is they alone that disgrace me and make you famous in the world.

7. My beloved does not ask after all my cries and laments; O Mîr Nigârî, do not think (this silence) meaningless, do not think (her) unaware.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The ghazal opens by pairing a Turkish line with a Persian one. In the first line the love-mad heart does not leave the beloved's door; the second gives the reason in the language of Persian poetry: where could Majnun go from the threshold of Leylâ's tent? The meeting of two languages in one couplet (mülemma) occurs from time to time in Nigârî's divan. Here the Persian line works like a proverb; any reader who knows the story of Leylâ and Majnun understands at once that not leaving the beloved's threshold is the lover's only choice.

The third couplet uses one of the humblest images of divan poetry. The dog waiting at the beloved's door is, in divan poetry, often the lover himself; the dog is the symbol of loyalty and of never leaving the beloved's threshold. Nigârî likens the dog's whimpering to the melody of the ney: the voice of the lover moaning at the door reaches the soul like music. The fourth couplet moves to a tree image of another kind. It says the sigh is a date palm that bears no fruit; the sighs do not reach the beloved and bring back an answer. Even so, the fault is not sought in the beloved, since no "bî-keremlik", lack of generosity, is expected of her.

The sixth couplet shows a curious side of the relation between lover and beloved: the lover's cry disgraces him, yet the same cry makes the beloved known to the world. The image of the rose and the nightingale works here without being spelled out; the nightingale's cry makes the rose famous. The last couplet closes with a consolation: the beloved's silence is not indifference but has a meaning the poet does not know. Only "sanma" in the last couplet comes near the rhyme without quite reaching it; elsewhere the long "â" of şeydâ, Leylâ, vâveylâ, şûr-efzâ, bâlâ, deryâ and mahzâ works regularly.

Bibliography

Online sources