Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Güft ü gûyun ey sanem nefs-i Mesîhâdır bana
Muhtasar her bir sözün bin rûh-efzâdır bana
Perde koymaz âteşim elbet yahar bu vechden
Devlet-i vaslın hüveydâ âş-kârâdır bana
Hâl-i Ferhâdıyla Mecnûndan haber-dârım ki tâ
Şevk-ı la‘lin kâkülün Şîrîn ü Leylâdır bana
Âh u efgãnımladır şâm u seher cem‘iyyetim
Pür-hevâyam tâ ser-i zülfün temennâdır bana
Nâfe-i zülfün beni salmış beyâbân seyrine
Kâr imdi bâd tek bâdiye-peymâdır bana
Neylesün vâ‘iz ki nâ-kãbildir idrâk eylemez
Küfr-i zülfündür hidâyet bu hüveydâdır bana
İltifâf itmez misin mecnûn-ı rüsvâyam diyü
İ‘tibâr itmez misin kim şi‘r-gûyâdır bana
Kühl-i sevdâ hiddet-i idrâkime virmiş vücûd
Başka gör Mîr Nigârî imdi peydâdır bana

In English

1. O idol, your speech is to me the breath of the Messiah; in short, every word of yours adds a thousand souls to me.

2. My fire knows no veil, and for that reason it surely burns; the fortune of union with you is plain and manifest to me.

3. I know the state of Ferhad and of Majnun; for longing for your lips and your forelock are Shirin and Leylâ to me.

4. Morning and evening my composure is made of my sighs and laments; I am full of longing, the tip of your curl is my only wish.

5. The musk-pod of your curl has sent me roaming the desert; now my work is to measure the wilderness like the wind.

6. What can the preacher do, he lacks the capacity, he does not understand; the unbelief of your curl is right guidance to me, this is plain to me.

7. Will you not show favour, since I am a disgraced madman; will you not show regard, since (I am one who) speaks poetry? (The word printed "iltifâf" in the edition has been understood as "iltifât", favour.)

8. The kohl of passion has given being to the sharpness of my understanding; Mîr Nigârî, now other things appear to me.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The sixth couplet utters the sharpest word of the ghazal: "Küfr-i zülfündür hidâyet", the unbelief of your curl is right guidance for me. At the root of the word küfr (unbelief) lies the sense of covering, and in divan poetry the black curl that covers the face is therefore called an "unbeliever". The poet takes this image a step further: the unbelief of the curl, the darkness that covers the face, has led him onto the right path. The preacher cannot understand this, for he is "nâ-kâbil", lacking the capacity to grasp it. Quarrels with the preacher and the zealot are frequent in Nigârî; here the argument is built by turning a religious term inside out, coming close to the Sufi tradition of sayings that look like unbelief outwardly and are faith inwardly.

The fourth couplet has a similar reversal. "Cem‘iyyet" means being gathered, composed, peace of heart; the curl, by contrast, is the symbol of dishevelment and scattering. The lover's composure is made of sighs and laments, that is, of scattering itself. The fifth couplet likens the scent of the curl to a musk-pod (nâfe); musk is taken from the navel of the gazelle that lives in the deserts of Khitay. The scent has sent the lover into the deserts and turned him into a traveller measuring the wilderness like the wind. Majnun's desert adventure is thus tied to the scent of the curl.

The "nefs-i Mesîhâ" of the first couplet is the breath of Jesus that revived the dead; every word of the beloved adds a thousand souls. At the close "kühl-i sevdâ", the kohl of passion, sharpens understanding. For the divan poets kohl is the remedy believed to strengthen the eye; passion too has given the poet's eye another power of sight. From "Mesîhâ" to "peydâ" nine rhyme words rest on the same long vowel and lead into the refrain "-dır bana" (is to me): Mesîhâ, rûh-efzâ, âş-kârâ, Leylâ, temennâ, bâdiye-peymâ, hüveydâ, şi‘r-gûyâ, peydâ.

Bibliography

Online sources