Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ey sanem zehr-âb-ı nâbın âb-ı hayvândır bana
Derd-i çeşmin başka bir cân özge dermândır bana
Sohbet-i la‘lin kitâb-ı zevk-efzâdur belî
Güft ü gûyun mekteb-i sevdâda Kur’ândır bana
Eyle bir dîvâneyem çeşmin tevellâsında kim
Vâlihimdir ehl-i ‘âlem cümle hayrândır bana
Âh u zârımdan felek ser-geştedir ammâ ki sen
Bir dimezsin başım ağrıtdın ne efgãndır bana
Urmagil peykâna el meccâne zahmet çekme kim
Âşık-ı vaktem sana cân virmek âsândır bana
Ârzum sensin mücerred ‘âlem-i dâreynde
Hak bilür ne hûrîdir matlab ne gılmândır bana
Zikr-i la‘linden beni agyârlar fârig dimiş
Fârig olmaz ‘âşıkın senden bu bühtândır bana
Dem-be-dem lezzet virür cevrin cefâ mu‘tâdıyam
Merkez-i lutfum ‘azîzim veh ne ihsândır bana
Üktülûnî yâ kerem-kârân bir dem lutf idin
Kim vücûdum perde-i dîdâr-ı cânândır bana
Âb-ı hayvândır diyü zevk eylerem akdıkca kan
Katl-i cânânam Nigârî başka bir cândır bana

In English

1. O idol, your pure poison is the water of life to me; the pain of your eye is to me another soul, another cure.

2. The conversation of your lips is a book that increases delight, yes; your speech is the Quran to me in the school of passion.

3. I am so mad with love for your eyes that the people of the world are bewildered at me and all of them marvel at me.

4. The sphere is dizzy from my sighs and moans; yet you never once say "you have given me a headache, what is this wailing to me".

5. Do not trouble to reach for an arrow, spare yourself the effort; I am a lover whose time has come, and giving my soul to you is easy for me.

6. You are my only desire in the two worlds; God knows, neither houri nor heavenly youth is my wish.

7. The strangers have said that I have given up remembering your lips; your lover never gives you up, this is a slander upon me.

8. Your cruelty gives delight at every moment, I am used to torment; O my dear one, I am the centre of your favour, ah, what a kindness to me.

9. O you generous ones, kill me, be kind for a moment; for my being is to me the veil over the face of the beloved.

10. As my blood flows I delight, saying "it is the water of life"; Nigârî, to be killed by the beloved is another soul to me.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Arabic "üktülûnî" of the ninth couplet means kill me and recalls one of the most famous verses of Sufi literature. The line attributed to Hallâj, "Uktulûnî yâ sikâtî, inne fî katlî hayâtî" (Kill me, my trusted friends, for my life lies in my being killed), became the emblem of the idea that death is the door opening onto true life. A. Azmi Bilgin counts Hallâj among the chief Sufis named in Nigârî's poems. Nigârî builds the same idea with his own reasoning: his being is a veil that covers the beloved's face, and until the veil is lifted the face cannot be seen. The last couplet adds a conclusion: to die at the beloved's hand is another soul, and the flowing blood is the water of life.

Along this line the ghazal makes a series of reversals. In the opening couplet poison becomes the water of life and the pain of the eye a cure. In the second the beloved's speech is likened to a Quran "in the school of passion"; this daring comparison is bounded by the school being the school of passion and says that the beloved's word is the lover's fundamental text. In couplet six the houris of paradise and the gılmân, the young servants who wait on the people of paradise, are not wanted; the only desire in the two worlds is the beloved. In couplet five the lover tells the beloved not even to trouble herself to shoot an arrow: an "‘âşık-ı vakt" is a lover whose time has come, and giving up his soul is easy for him.

The fourth couplet sets an everyday scene beside this high tone. While even the sphere is dizzy from the lover's cries, the beloved never once complains "you have given me a headache"; she does not even hear him. At ten couplets the poem is longer than most ghazals of this section; every rhyme before the refrain "-dır bana" (is to me) ends in "-ân": hayvân, dermân, Kur’ân, hayrân, efgân, âsân, gılmân, bühtân, ihsân, cânân, cân.

Bibliography

Online sources