Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlü Mefâ‘îlü Fe‘ûlün

Nâkûs-ı dilin sûzişiyle hüsn sesi var
Zevk eylesün ol kãfile beyle ceresi var
Sabr eylemez âh eylemeden bülbül-i şeydâ
Firkatde eger gülbün-i güldân kafesi var
Agyâr dil-âzârsız olmaz kûy-ı cânân
Zîrâ tikeni bâğ-ı gülün hâr u hasi var
Degmiş yine ol kâkül-i gülbûy nigâra
Kim peyk-i sabânın bu gün ‘anber nefesi var
Sûzişle bu mazmûn oku ey mutrib-i hoş-hân
Meyhâneme gelsün kimin ‘aşka hevesi var
Sûzân ider ‘aşk âteşine tâlib-i yâri
Dilber ocağından kimin ey dil kabesi var
Vehm eylemez erbâb-ı gönül leşker-i gamdan
Zîrâ ki anun mıstabada dâd-resi var
Zâhid gibi erbâb-ı gönül huşk-leb olmaz
Ceyhûnı anun Nîli Fırâtı Arası var
‘Âriflerin ey dil yed-i şeh-bâz ile oynar
Zâhidlerin aldanma elinde megesi var
Bî-şibh yiter matlaba dildâr işiginde
Her tâlib-i şeydânın eger mest kesi var
Nâz eylesün ol kimse ki meyhânede her dem
Bu Mîr Nigârî gibi bir büt-peresi var
Çekmez elem-i rûz-ı cezâ ehl-i cezâyam
Zîrâ sanemâ sen gibi feryâd-resi var
Gümnâm ola ser-defter-i ‘uşşâkdan ey cân
Terk eylese dil ‘aşkını tâ kim nefesi var

In English

1. In the burning of the heart's bell there is the sound of beauty; let that caravan take delight, it has such a bell.

2. The mad nightingale cannot keep patient without sighing, if in separation the rosebush has a cage. (We give the couplet approximately.)

3. The beloved's street is never free of heart-wounding rivals, for the rose garden has its thorns and brushwood.

4. (The wind) must have touched that rose-scented forelock of the beloved again, for today the courier of the east wind has a breath of ambergris.

5. O sweet-voiced minstrel, sing this theme with burning; whoever has a longing for love, let him come to my tavern.

6. O heart, love burns in its own fire the seeker who has taken an ember from the beloved's hearth.

7. The people of the heart do not fear the army of grief, for they have a helper on the bench of the tavern.

8. The people of the heart are not dry-lipped like the ascetic, for they have their Oxus, their Nile, their Euphrates and their Aras.

9. O heart, the hand of the gnostics plays with the royal falcon; do not be fooled, in the ascetics' hand there is a fly.

10. Every mad seeker reaches his goal without doubt at the beloved's threshold, if he has a drunken companion.

11. Let him be proud who has in the tavern, at every moment, an idol-worshipper like this Mîr Nigârî.

12. I am of the people of punishment, yet I shall not suffer the pain of the Day of Reckoning, for, O idol, I have a rescuer like you.

13. O soul, let the heart's name be struck from the head of the lovers' register if it gives up its love while it has breath.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The geography of the ghazal opens up in the eighth couplet. Men of the heart are not dry-lipped like the ascetic, for they have their Oxus, their Nile, their Euphrates and their Aras. The first three rivers are often named in divan poetry as the great waters: the Oxus is the Amu Darya of Central Asia, the Nile Egypt's river, the Euphrates Iraq's. The fourth river is the Aras, and its name enters the list from Nigârî's own homeland. The Aras marks the southern edge of Karabağ, and the lands where the poet was born lie near its banks. Its mention among the great rivers, together with the poems that name Karabağ and Karadağ, shows a poet living in Amasya who never forgot his homeland. The lover's tears are as plentiful as these four rivers, and his lip never dries.

The word "kabes" in the sixth couplet means an ember taken from a fire and recalls the story of Moses in the Qur'an: seeing a fire in the distance, Moses told his family, "perhaps I will bring you an ember from it." The story is often called up in Nigârî's divan. Here the seeker who takes an ember from the beloved's hearth burns in the fire of love. The first couplet uses "nâkûs", the church bell, together with "ceres", the caravan bell; the sound rising from the heart's burning is a bell calling the caravan to the road.

The ninth couplet compares gnostics and ascetics through birds of prey: the gnostics' hand plays with the royal falcon, while the ascetics hold a fly. The pen-name couplet makes the poet the tavern's "büt-perest", idol-worshipper; for a lover who worships beauty this is, in divan poetry, a boast. Of the two couplets after the pen name, the first recalls the Day of Reckoning: the lover is guilty but does not fear, because he has a rescuer like the beloved. The last is like an oath: if the heart gives up its love while it still has breath, let its name be struck from the head of the lovers' register.

Bibliography

Online sources