Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Yine dilber dudağından gül-i handân dökülür
Dili şâd eyleyecek müjde-i ihsân dökülür
Uğrayup kûy-ı nigâra yine o berbâd olmış
Nefes-i peyk-i sabâdan bûy-ı reyhân dökülür
Şevk-ıla dîde-i ter la‘l ü dür-efşân eyler
Vakt kim ‘ârıza bu zülf-i zer-efşân dökülür
Dilberâne yine bir kâküli efşân eyle
Her yana ey gül-i ter gör nice bin cân dökülür
Teşrîf it hâne-i bîmârlara bir nazar it
Gör nice makdemine ‘âşık-ı bîcân dökülür
Ele al âyine ey cânım alup kanım içen
Gamzene bir nazar it gör ki nice kan dökülür
Korkaram ‘arşına âteş düşe tâ kim kapuna
Beyle kim şâm u seher ‘âşık-ı sûzân dökülür
Beyle kalmaz sanuram ‘âkıbeti bahr-ı muhît
Gide seylâb gözümden eyle tûfân dökülür
Mey-kede içre Nigârî dil-i mey-hârlara
Hum-ı gönlümden âhir bâde-i cânân dökülür

In English

1. Once more laughing roses pour from the beloved's lip; good tidings of kindness to gladden the heart pour forth.

2. Having passed through the beloved's street it is dishevelled again; the scent of basil pours from the breath of the east wind's courier.

3. When this gold-scattering tress pours over the cheek, the tearful eye in its longing scatters rubies and pearls.

4. O fresh rose, toss a forelock once again to steal hearts; see how many thousand souls pour out on every side.

5. Honour the house of the sick, cast a glance; see how many lifeless lovers pour forth at your coming.

6. O you who took my soul and drink my blood, take a mirror in your hand; look at your glance and see how much blood is poured.

7. I fear fire will fall upon the Throne of God, since burning lovers pour to your door like this, evening and morning.

8. I think it will not stay so; in the end the encircling ocean will go as a flood from my eye, such a deluge pours.

9. Nigârî, in the tavern, for the wine-drinking hearts, the beloved's wine pours at last from the jar of my heart.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The refrain "dökülür", pours, describes in this ghazal the pouring of everything imaginable: roses from the lip, the scent of basil from the wind's breath, golden hair onto the cheek, rubies and pearls from the eye, thousands of souls at the toss of a forelock, blood from the glance, an ocean from the eye and, at the end, wine from the jar of the heart. In every couplet the verb attaches to something different, and its sense shifts a little. Hair pouring onto the cheek is a scene of beauty; souls pouring out, a scene of death; lovers pouring to the door, a crowd; the deluge pouring from the eye, a catastrophe. The ghazal binds all these scenes with a single verb.

The finest touch comes in the sixth couplet. The beloved has taken the lover's soul and drunk his blood, but does not see what she has done. The poet tells her to take a mirror in hand and look at her own glance; then she will see how much blood has been shed. In divan poetry the mirror is the object in which the beloved contemplates her own beauty; here the same mirror will show her her own cruelty.

The seventh and eighth couplets carry the exaggeration up to the heavens and out to the seas. The burning lovers pouring to the beloved's door make so great a blaze that the poet fears fire will fall upon the Throne of God. The tears pouring from his eye will in the end carry off, like a flood, the "bahr-ı muhît", the ocean encircling the world. Finally all this pouring reaches the tavern: the beloved's wine gathered in the jar of the heart is at last poured into the cups of the lovers there. Here too the poet offers his poetry as a drink.

Bibliography

Online sources