Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Yiridür kim didiler ey gönül evtâd sana
Kim yetüp mâye-i temkîn-i Hudâ dâd sana
Gezdi sahrâları Mecnûn eserin bulmadı lîk
Yeldi dağlar etegin yitmedi Ferhâd sana
Çıkdı sevdâ-zede cümle cem‘ olup dağ başına
Çok sadâ eylediler yetmedi feryâd sana
‘Âlem-i ‘aşkda bed-nâmlığı ad itdin
Bundan artuk ne olur hûb güzel ad sana
Mübtelâdır mey sana kim seni manzûr kılup
Hemdem olmuş heme dem ‘aşk güzel zâd sana
Meded-i sâkî-i Şirvânıla çokdur dimezem
Karabağ içre mey-i Rûhî-i Bağdâd sana
Yârı ey Mîr Nigârî ne bilürdün bilürem
Kılmasa lutf-ı ezel ‘aşkıla irşâd sana

In English

1. O heart, it is fitting that they call you one of the "evtâd" (pillars); for God has given you the leaven of steadfastness.

2. Majnun roamed the deserts but did not find your trace; Ferhad ran along the skirts of the mountains but could not catch you.

3. All the passion-stricken gathered and climbed to the mountain top; they cried out much, but their cries did not reach you.

4. In the world of love you made ill repute your name; what name could be finer or better for you than this?

5. Wine is in love with you, for it has made you its favourite; love has been your companion every moment as fine provision.

6. If, with the help of the cupbearer of Shirvan, the wine of Rûhî of Baghdad has been offered to you in Karabakh, I do not count it too much. (The couplet has been understood approximately.)

7. O Mîr Nigârî, had the favour of pre-eternity not guided you by love, how would you have known the beloved, I know.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The sixth couplet is the place in this first part of the divan where the poet touches most openly on his own life. Three place names come together: Shirvan, Karabakh and Baghdad. The "sâkî-i Şirvân", the cupbearer of Shirvan, calls to mind Nigârî's spiritual guide İsmâil Sirâceddin Şirvânî; the poet entered the Naqshbandi path at his hands and received his licence from him. Karabakh is the land where the poet was born. "Rûhî-i Bağdâd" is Rûhî of Baghdad, who lived in Baghdad at the end of the sixteenth century and is known for his terkib-bend. The couplet can be understood thus: with the help of the sheikh from Shirvan, the wine of Rûhî of Baghdad, that is, words worthy of his poetry, has been offered in Karabakh. According to A. Azmi Bilgin, Nigârî likens himself to Rûhî in another poem and in yet another says he has turned Karabakh into "the land of Baghdad", thereby emulating Fuzûlî. This couplet carries the same attitude; but since the exact sense of "çokdur dimezem" remains unclear, the reading is not certain.

The rest of the ghazal is praise addressed to the heart. "Evtâd" in the opening couplet means stakes, pillars; in Sufism it is the name of the four saints believed to hold up the four sides of the world. "Temkîn" is the wayfarer's steadfastness, his ability to stand firm without being tossed from state to state. The poet ascribes this rank to his heart and immediately leaves two great lovers behind it: Majnun ran in the desert, Ferhad on the mountain, but neither could catch the heart. In couplet four the melâmet stance appears again; in the world of love ill repute is the finest name. Among the rhyme words stand both the Sufi "evtâd" and the "Bağdâd" of the sixth couplet; all end in "-âd": evtâd, dâd, Ferhâd, feryâd, ad, zâd, Bağdâd, irşâd.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

  • Parvana Bayram, "Azerbaycan ve Türkiye'de Yayımlanan Seyyid Nigârî Divanları Hakkında", Turkish Studies, 7/1, 2012, pp. 405-417.

Online sources