Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Dem-be-dem bir hûrşîd-i ruhsâr manzardır bana
Ni‘met-i dîdâr el-hak kim müyesserdir bana
Hûrî kevser sohbeti yarındır ey vâ‘iz bugün
Bâde-i müldür garaz dîdâr-ı dilberdir bana
Ravza-ı kûyunda her bir gûşe ey nahl-i hırâm
Heşt cennet âb-ı kûyun âb-ı kevserdir bana
Hâl ü ruhsârın hayâli gîce gündüz lezzeti
Fikr-i la‘lin dem-be-dem kand-ı mükerrerdir bana
Yâd-ı la‘lünle dem-â-dem eşk-i gül-gûnum benim
Al ruhsârımda bir cem‘iyyet-i zerdir bana
Dâğ-ı ruhsârınla yanmış bu kara bağrım kara
Bağım ey gül nevresim eşkde ter terdir bana
Bu gice yak perdeni ey şem‘-i ruhsârın görem
Şübhesiz bir subh-dem ölmek mukarrerdir bana
Ka‘be-i kûyun beni kılmış esîr-i iştiyâk
Ol sebebdendir ki vird Allâhu ekberdir bana
Ey Nigârî menzilim vîrâne virdim bir perî
Subh u şâm bir mushaf-ı ruhsâr ezberdir bana

In English

1. At every moment a sun-faced beloved is my view; truly, the blessing of seeing her face has been granted me.

2. O preacher, talk of houris and of Kawsar belongs to tomorrow; today my aim is the cup of wine, the beloved's face.

3. O swaying sapling, every corner in the garden of your street is the eight paradises to me; the water of your street is to me the water of Kawsar.

4. The image of your beauty spot and cheek is a delight night and day; the thought of your lips is to me at every moment twice-refined sugar.

5. Remembering your lips, my rose-red tears flow at every moment; on my red cheek they are like a heap of gold to me. (The second line is not clearly understood.)

6. O rose, this black breast of mine, burned with the brand of your cheek, is my black garden (kara bağ); the early fruit of that garden is fresh and wet with tears for me.

7. O candle of the cheek, burn your veil tonight so that I may see; without doubt it is ordained that I die one morning.

8. The Kaaba of your street has made me the captive of longing; that is why my litany is "Allâhu ekber".

9. O Nigârî, my dwelling is a ruin, I gave my heart to a fairy; morning and evening the Quran of her cheek is by heart to me.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The sixth couplet buries the name of the poet's native land in a pun. The first line ends "bu kara bağrım kara" (this black breast of mine, black), and the second begins "Bağım" (my garden); across the boundary of the two lines "kara / Bağ", Karabakh, appears. The lover's black breast is a "kara bağ", a black garden burned by the brand of the beloved's cheek, and its early fruit is wet with tears. In a syllabic poem quoted by Pervane Bayram the poet makes the same play openly: "Kara bağrım kanlu kara bağımdır / Gözlerinden akan yaş Terter'imdir" (my black breast is my bloody black garden, the tears flowing from my eyes are my Terter). There the Terter river of Karabakh is named as well. In this ghazal tears take the place of the river, but the pun is the same and hints that the poet in exile carries his homeland in his breast.

The rest of the ghazal carries a series of holy places into the beloved's street. In the second couplet the preacher is answered: houris and the pool of Kawsar belong to tomorrow, to the next world; the poet's aim today is the beloved's face. In couplet three every corner of her street is the "heşt cennet", the eight paradises, and its water is Kawsar. In the eighth the street becomes a Kaaba, and as in the pilgrimage "Allâhu ekber" never leaves the lover's tongue. In the last couplet the beloved's cheek is a copy of the Quran, and the poet has learned it by heart. Likening the face to a Quran, the eyebrows to the basmala and the down of the cheek to lines of script is an image the divan poets often turned to.

In the seventh couplet death is tied to a candle scene. The beloved's cheek is a candle; the lover, like the moth, wants the veil burned and the face revealed, and knows that the price is to die one morning. The candle goes out towards morning, and the moth dies burning. The "kand-ı mükerrer" (twice-refined sugar) of the fourth couplet also occurs in the last couplet of the Ascension naat, the twelfth poem of the divan. The "ezber" (by heart) of the Quran couplet is the last link in the chain of "-er" rhymes: manzar, müyesser, dilber, kevser, mükerrer, zer, ter, mukarrer, ekber, ezber.

Bibliography

Online sources