Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Pîş-revlik âf-tâb-âsâ nazardandır bana
Hiddet-i idrâklik vehbî basardandır bana
Tâbdır tâbım cemâlin pertevinden subh u şâm
Ne süreyyâdan bu devlet ne kamerdendir bana
Mürg-ı sevdâyam usanmaz kuvvet-i pervâzlık
Himmet-i pîr-i mugãn vehbâne perdendir bana
Dem-be-dem hû hây u hû hû nâle-i dil-sûzlar
Bir leb-i gülnâr u bir gonçe-i terdendir bana
Ey gözüm cârûb tek makbûl-ı dergâh olduğum
Rûy-ı hâk üzre niyâz-ı der-be-derdendir bana
Ber-karâr olsun görem şeh-râh-ı sevdâ kim müdâm
Sûd-ı bî-had bu tarîkıla seferdendir bana
Nef‘ virmez pendin ey nâsih ki Mecnûniyyetim
Çeşm-i Leylâ-yı ezel feyz-i kaderdendir bana
Bir fedâkâram ki aslâ çekmezem cân kaydını
Bu cesâret hıdmet-i ehl-i hünerdendir bana
Râh-ı sevdâ içre ey Seyyid Nigârî yârlık
Nâle-i şeb âh-ı dil-sûz-ı seherdendir bana

In English

1. My going ahead like the sun comes from a glance; the sharpness of my understanding comes to me from a God-given sight.

2. My radiance morning and evening comes from the light of your beauty; this fortune comes to me neither from the Pleiades nor from the moon.

3. I am the bird of passion, my power of flight never wearies; it comes to me from the wing the tavern elder's spiritual aid gave as a gift.

4. The heart-burning moans that rise every moment, "hû", "hây", "hû hû", come to me from pomegranate-blossom lips and a fresh rosebud.

5. O my eye, my being accepted at the threshold like a broom comes to me from begging door to door upon the face of the earth.

6. Let the highway of passion stay in place for ever, that I may see it; for my boundless profit comes from travelling this road.

7. O counsellor, your advice is no use; for my madness comes to me from the eye of the Leylâ of pre-eternity, from the bounty of fate.

8. I am such a self-sacrificer that I never trouble about my life; this courage comes to me from serving the people of skill.

9. O Seyyid Nigârî, companionship on the road of passion comes to me from the night's moaning and the heart-burning sigh of dawn.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The ghazal lists a source for everything the poet possesses, and none of these sources is himself. "Vehbî basar" at the outset means God-given sight. In Sufism knowledge is divided into two kinds: "kesbî" knowledge, acquired by effort and study, and "vehbî" knowledge, bestowed directly by God. Nigârî ties the sharpness of his understanding to this second kind. In couplet three the power of flight comes from a wing that the pîr-i mugân, the tavern elder, gave "vehbâne", as a gift; in the seventh, madness comes from the eye of the pre-eternal Leylâ and from the bounty of fate. The phrase "Leylâ-yı ezel", Leylâ of pre-eternity, takes Leylâ out of the role of a worldly beloved and makes her the name of the divine beauty loved since before time.

The fourth couplet carries the sound of the zikr gathering into the poem. "Hû" is the pronoun "He" that refers to God and is repeated with the breath in zikr; "hây hû" is an ecstatic cry. The poet finds the source of these moans in pomegranate-blossom lips and a fresh rosebud. The sound of zikr and the beauty of the beloved meet in the same couplet.

The image of the fifth couplet is humble: the lover is like the broom at the threshold of the lodge, and a broom is accepted by sweeping the ground, by bowing down to it. In divan poetry the lover often sweeps the dust of the beloved's door with his eyelashes; Nigârî ties this sweeping to the pleading of a beggar going door to door. In couplet eight the courage of self-sacrifice comes from serving the "ehl-i hüner", the people of skill. The ghazal opens on two words of seeing: "nazar" and "basar" in the first couplet are also its first two rhymes. Kamer, per, ter, der-be-der, sefer, kader, hüner and seher carry the "-er" on, and the refrain is "-dendir bana" (comes to me from).

Bibliography

Online sources