Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilün

Hüsn bâğında sana gonçe-i handân didiler
Bana hem ey gül-i ter bülbül-i hoş-hân didiler
Tûtiyâ-yı kademin ‘aynıma ikrâm eyle kim
Sebeb-i kurbiyet-i rahmeti ihsân didiler
Bilmezem söyledim ol ‘ârız-ı gülden soruşun
Neden olmuş sana bu âh u bu efgãn didiler
Çâre-i dâğ-ı ciger-sûz nedir âh didim
Sabr kıl ‘âşık-ı sâdıksan eger yan didiler
Mâil-i gamze idim şâm u seher hûn-efşân
Rahm kıl cânına kim kan bu ‘amel kan didiler
Bî-devâdır dimiş el-hâsıl[ı] tahkîk itdim
Dehen-i dilberi kim derdime dermân didiler
Didim âyâ ne olur kıymet-i hâk-i derin
Mülk-i dâreyni ana fîet-i erzân didiler
Mâ hazar eyledim oldum cigerim pâreleyüp
Kelb-i cânânı bu gün kim sana mihmân didiler
Didim âyâ ne olur ‘âkıbet-i seyr ü sülûk
İtmi’nân-ı ebedî devlet-i ebkãn didiler
Şevk-ıla varı mı virdim yile berbâd itdim
Sanenâ gönlüme kim cânımı kurbân didiler
Tâze cân buldı gönül Mîr Nigârî oldum
Gûşuma degdi sadâ böyle ki cânân didiler
Dil harîs oldı meye vakt ki Rahmânımızın
Kahrını katre-i kem lutfunı ‘ummân didiler
Ne gam ey dil geçer evkãtımız ‘isyân ile kim
Bâri Settârü'l-‘uyûb vasfını gufrân didiler

In English

1. In the garden of beauty they called you a laughing rosebud; and me, O fresh rose, they called a sweet-singing nightingale.

2. Bestow on my eye the kohl of the dust of your foot, for they said that kindness is the cause of nearness (to mercy).

3. They said, "Where have this sighing and this lament come to you from?" I said, "I do not know; ask that rose cheek."

4. I said, "Ah, what is the cure for the liver-burning brand?" They said, "Be patient; if you are a true lover, burn."

5. Morning and evening I was drawn to the glance, shedding blood; they said, "Have pity on your soul, this deed of yours is blood, blood."

6. In the end I learned for certain that the beloved's mouth, which they had called the cure for my pain, said, "This pain has no remedy."

7. I said, "What might the dust of her door be worth?" They said, "The realm of both worlds is a cheap price for it."

8. For the beloved's dog, which they said is your guest today, I tore my liver to pieces and made ready what I had at hand.

9. I said, "What is the end of the spiritual journey?" They said, "Eternal peace, the most lasting fortune."

10. Did I in my longing give all I had to the wind and lay it waste? O idol, they told my heart, "Sacrifice your soul." (The sense of the couplet is uncertain.)

11. The heart found new life, I became Mîr Nigârî, when a voice touched my ear saying "beloved".

12. When they called the wrath of our Merciful One a little drop and His grace an ocean, the heart grew greedy for wine.

13. O heart, what matter if our hours pass in rebellion; they said that forgiveness is the nature of the Concealer of Faults.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The ghazal moves by question and answer. The refrain "didiler", they said, reports in every couplet the reply of a nameless company, and the questions the poet asks with "didim", I said, are met by these answers. He asks the cure for the liver-burning brand: "Be patient; if you are a true lover, burn." He asks the worth of the dust of the beloved's door: "The realm of both worlds is a cheap price for it." He asks the end of the spiritual journey: "Eternal peace." Who answers is never said. In some couplets they seem to be the elders of the lovers' road, in others the voice of a spiritual guide. The vagueness suits the poem: the lover is putting his questions to a company that has walked this road before him.

The sixth couplet uses a well-known witticism of divan poetry. The beloved's mouth is so small it hardly exists; poets call it a "nothing". This mouth is pointed out as the cure for the lover's pain, but on enquiry he learns that the same mouth has said "this pain has no remedy". The cure had been expected from a nothing. The eighth couplet describes the lover's generosity: the beloved's dog has come as a guest, and the lover has torn his liver to pieces to feed it.

The pen-name couplet is not where the ghazal ends. The two couplets after it pass from the language of passion to the language of prayer. That the heart grows greedy for wine when the Merciful's wrath is called a little drop and His grace an ocean is a playful expression of trust in the breadth of mercy. The last couplet says one need not grieve that the hours pass in rebellion, for the meaning of God's name "Settârü'l-‘uyûb", the Concealer of Faults, is forgiveness. Like many of its neighbours, the ghazal leaves the last word not to the servant's deeds but to God's pardon.

Bibliography

Online sources