Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün

Fârig olmazlar belâlar mübtelâlardır bana
Ahmediyyü'l-meşrebem hemdem belâlardır bana
Tîrler kavs-i kazâdan kim yağar yağmur tek
Her biri mihr ü vefâ şehd-i şifâlardır bana
Dem-be-dem zevk u safâ cevr ü cefâlardan gelür
Nâz u istignâ-yı dilber dil-rübâlardır bana
Bülbülân-ı hoş hevâlar tek nevâ-sâzam diyü
Gonçe-veşlerden dem-â-dem es-salâlardır bana
Tâlib-i dîdâram ammâ hemdemimdir iştiyâk
Âh u feryâdım dem-â-dem reh-nümâlardır bana
Sîm ü zerden fârigam kim gûşe-i vîrânede
Güft ü gûy-ı dil-rübâlar kîmyâlardır bana
Dem-be-dem durmaz döner gönlüm esîr-i zülfdür
Unsurumdan gãlibâ gãlib hevâlardır bana
Eksik olmaz bâdeler peymânemizden kim müdâm
Bâde-keşlerden gelen hayr du‘âlardır bana
İtmezem Mîr Nigârî iştikâ ikrâh kim
Ol cefâlar kim gelür Hakdan safâlardır bana

In English

1. Calamities never leave me, they are smitten with me; I am of Ahmed's disposition (on the Prophet's path), and calamities are my companions every moment.

2. The arrows that rain from the bow of fate like rain, each of them is for me the honey of love, faithfulness and healing.

3. Delight and joy come every moment from cruelty and torment; the beloved's coquetry and indifference are for me heart-ravishing beauties.

4. Because I sing melodies like sweet-voiced nightingales, invitations reach me every moment from beauties like rosebuds.

5. I seek the beloved's face, but my companion is longing; my sighs and cries show me the way every moment.

6. I have given up silver and gold; for in a ruined corner the words of heart-ravishers are alchemy to me.

7. My heart turns ceaselessly because it is the captive of a curl; it seems that among my elements the one that rules me is air (hevâ, also desire).

8. Wine never runs short in our cup; for good prayers come to me constantly from the wine-drinkers.

9. O Mîr Nigârî, I do not complain, I do not recoil (from cruelty); for those cruelties that come from God are joy to me.

Literary and Historical Commentary

"Ahmediyyü'l-meşrebem" in the first couplet means I am of the disposition of Ahmed, that is the Prophet Muhammad, and it carries the whole thought of the ghazal. The hadith stating that the prophets are of all people the most tried by affliction became, in the Sufi tradition, the basis for counting affliction a sign of nearness to God. Nigârî ties himself to this path: calamity is his companion, indeed calamities are smitten with him. The word "mübtelâ" (smitten, afflicted) is turned round here; it is not the lover who is gripped by calamity but calamity that is gripped by the lover.

The ghazal pursues this reversal couplet by couplet. The arrows that rain from the bow of fate are the honey of healing; delight is born of cruelty; the beloved's coquetry and istiğnâ (indifference) win the heart. The refrain "-lardır bana" (are to me) turns a pain into a blessing in every couplet, and in the last couplet the principle of this turning is stated openly: cruelty that comes from God is joy. In the sixth couplet the same thought is built in the language of money. The poet has no need of gold and silver, for in a ruined corner the words of the beauties are alchemy to him; alchemy is the secret believed to turn copper into gold and here describes the transforming power of words.

The seventh couplet is a play on words resting on the old medical doctrine of the four elements. A person's temperament is formed from a mixture of earth, water, air and fire, and he behaves according to whichever prevails. The poet's heart turns ceaselessly because it is captive to a curl, so air must prevail in his temperament. But "hevâ" also means whim and desire: the element that weighs heaviest in the poet is desire for the beloved. The word carries the couplet in both its senses (tevriye). The punning "hevâ" is itself one of the rhymes, all of which end in a long "â": mübtelâ, belâ, şifâ, dil-rübâ, es-salâ, reh-nümâ, kîmyâ, hevâ, du‘â, safâ.

Bibliography

Online sources