Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Didim âyâ bu gelen kimdir o cândır didiler
‘Âşık-ı haste-dile özge revândır didiler
Didim âyâ ki bu kim ‘aynıma ra‘nâ görünür
Bâğçe-i hüsnde bir serv-i revândır didiler
Neden olmış didim âyâ ki bu mestiyyet-i dil
‘Âlem-i ‘aşkda peyveste-i ândır didiler
Vâ‘iz adam degül mi didim ol bî-hûde-gû
Bağırur nâhik-i bed na‘re-zenândır didiler
Bülbülün şâm u seher âhı nedendir ki didim
Âh-ı dil-sûzına bak âteş-i cândır didiler
Bî-karâr eyleyen ‘uşşâkı nedir âh didim
Âh gîsû-yı girih-gîr-i bütândır didiler
Nâle-i sûz-ı ciger ‘aşkı isbât itdi
Çekdiler sîneme bir dâğ nişâdır didiler
Bilmezem ‘arz eyledim müddetin Allâh bilür
Vakt kim âteş-i cânın ne zamândır didiler
Yok mı yâ muhtefî mi yâr görünmez ki didim
Âşikârâdı velî çeşme nihândır didiler
Cânımızla çekeriz ‘aşkı kim arz u semâ
Ana yok tâkatımız bâr-ı girândır didiler
Ne disen mecma‘a-i Mîr Nigârîye didim
Bir cihângîrdir ol şâh-ı dîvândır didiler

In English

1. I said, "Who is this who comes?" They said, "That is the soul (the beloved), another spirit for the sick-hearted lover."

2. I said, "Who is this who looks so lovely to my eye?" They said, "A swaying cypress in the garden of beauty."

3. I said, "Where has this drunkenness of the heart come from?" They said, "In the world of love it is bound to that moment." (The couplet is rendered approximately.)

4. I said, "Is that idle-talking preacher not a man?" They said, "He shouts; he is one of those who bray an ugly bray."

5. I said, "Why does the nightingale sigh morning and evening?" They said, "Look at its heart-burning sigh: it is the fire of the soul."

6. I said, "Ah, what makes the lovers restless?" They said, "Ah, the knot-binding tresses of the idols."

7. The lament of the burning liver proved love; they drew a brand upon my breast and said, "This is a sign."

8. When they said, "Since when has the fire of your soul been burning?", I replied, "I do not know; God knows how long."

9. I said, "Is the beloved absent, or hidden, that he is not seen?" They said, "He is manifest, but hidden from the eye."

10. We carry love with our souls; earth and heaven said, "We have no strength for it, it is a heavy load."

11. I said, "What do you say of Mîr Nigârî's collection?" They said, "It is a world-conqueror, the king of divans."

Literary and Historical Commentary

The refrain "didiler", they said, and the question-and-answer pattern of "Hüsn bâğında" are taken up again here, only a few poems later. Here the pattern is sharper still: in nine of its eleven couplets the poet asks with "didim", I said, and the answer comes in a single line. The questions are the basic matters of love's road: who is coming, where does the heart's drunkenness come from, why does the nightingale moan, what makes lovers restless, why is the beloved not seen? The answers are short and certain, and once again who gives them is not said.

The tenth couplet rests on the verse of the Trust in the Qur'an. According to verse 72 of the sura al-Ahzab, God offered the Trust to the heavens, the earth and the mountains; they shrank from bearing it, and man took it up. In Sufi poetry this Trust is often read as love. Nigârî reads it so: earth and heaven said, "We have no strength for it, it is a heavy load," while lovers carry that load with their souls. The ninth couplet is of the same depth. The beloved is neither absent nor in hiding; he is manifest, but hidden from the eye. The thought that God is plainly present in all things and yet cannot be seen by the eye is set inside an answer about love.

The fourth couplet adds a new one to the divan's satires on the preacher. The poet asks whether the idle-talking preacher is a man at all, and the answer is that he is one of those who bray; "nâhik" is the word used for a donkey's braying. With the final question the talk turns to the poet's own collection of poems, and the answer is praise: this collection is a world-conqueror, the king of divans.

Bibliography

Online sources