Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Mezâkım arturur mâni‘- meye meylim ziyâd eyler
Dem-â-dem şevkımı ta‘n-ı hasûdân izdiyâd eyler
Cem‘ olmış bir yere mey-hârlar bir bir habîbâne
Ayağın bâde-i nâbın öper gönlini şâd eyler
Şarâb-ı nâbın evsâfın dimez vâ‘iz hüveydâdır
Geçüp dîn-i mübînden kim yalan söyler ‘inâd eyler
Nisâr eyler gönül varıyyetin sevdâya kim ol dem
Hevâ-yı zülf-i Leylânı ki Mecnûnlar müzâd eyler
Hayâlâtıyla gülgeşt-i Karabağı gezer gönlüm
Gelür kim kûy-ı dildâra kalur zevk-ı murâd eyler
Temennâdan geçüp dünyâ ve mâ fîhâya meyl itmez
Ser-i kûyunda kelbinle gönül dâd u sitâd eyler
Ümîdim iltifâtından budur seyr-i cemâlinle
Virür cân ‘âkıbet Mîr Nigârî gökçek ad eyler

In English

1. The one who forbids increases my delight and adds to my leaning towards wine; the taunts of the envious swell my longing every moment.

2. The wine-drinkers have gathered in one place one by one, like lovers; each kisses the cup of pure wine and gladdens his heart.

3. The preacher does not tell the virtues of pure wine, that is plain; whoever strays from the clear faith and lies is merely stubborn. (The sense of the couplet is uncertain.)

4. At the moment the Majnuns put passion for Leyla's tress up for auction, the heart scatters all it owns upon that passion.

5. In its fancies my heart roams the rose-walk of Karabağ; it comes to the beloved's street, stays, and enjoys the pleasure of its wish.

6. The heart has given up its wishes and does not lean towards the world and what is in it; at the head of your street it trades with your dog.

7. This is my hope from your favour: that, gazing on your beauty, Mîr Nigârî may in the end give up his soul and leave a fair name.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Karabağ enters Nigârî's verse once more, this time in the fifth couplet. In its fancies the heart walks the "gülgeşt-i Karabağ", the rose-walk of Karabağ. The word "gülgeşt" had already appeared in the ghazal "Yâdımdan çıkmaz", with Hafez's "gülgeşt-i Musallâ", the phrase in which he praised Shiraz. Hafez had preferred the rose-walk of Shiraz to paradise; Nigârî, in Amasya, walks the rose-walk of Karabağ in his imagination. The heart's stroll leads to the beloved's street and stays there: longing for home and the wish for union with the beloved meet on the same road. Like "Âbâd olsun o yer" and "Sanmanuz lâle gülistânlu" in the divan, this couplet shows Karabağ remaining a living place in the poet's verse.

The fourth couplet uses the language of the market. "Müzâd" is an auction. The Majnuns have put the passion for Leyla's tress up for auction, and at that moment the heart scatters everything it owns upon that passion. "Dâd u sitâd", buying and selling, trade, in the sixth couplet continues the same language: the heart that has given up the world and its contents now does its trading only with the dog in the beloved's street. Trade with a worthless dog reverses the value placed on worldly goods.

The first couplet opens with the thought of prohibition: the one who forbids does not lessen the lover's leaning towards wine but increases it, and the taunts of the envious swell his longing. Desire for what is forbidden is a thought often met in the rind's language of divan poetry. The last couplet names the only thing the poet hopes for from the beloved: to give up his soul gazing at her beauty and leave a fair name behind. "Gökçek ad", a fair name, reminds us that the pen name too is a name; Nigârî wants his to be remembered bound to the beloved.

Bibliography

Online sources