Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Gör ne reng eyler nigârım gör ne âl eyler bana
Kim giyüp rengîn içüp ruhsâr-ı âl eyler bana
Hânumânım târ-mâr itmişdir ol kâfir peçe
Kasd-ı îmân eylemiş imdi ne hâl eyler bana
Dil safâ eyler cefâ gördükce kim ol nâzenîn
Ol sebebden cevr-i bî-had bî-übâl eyler bana
Her gören hayrânlığım Leylâ-veşimden bî-haber
Bilmez ol vechin cevâb ister su’âl eyler bana
Görse ey Seyyid Nigârî râh-ı dilden bir kenâr
Ol gazâl-i nâzenînim gûş-mâl eyler bana

In English

1. See what colours my beloved shows, see what tricks (âl) she plays on me; putting on bright clothes and drinking, she makes her cheek red (âl) for me.

2. That infidel veil has scattered my house and home; it has made an attempt on my faith, what will it do to me now?

3. That graceful one, knowing that the heart finds joy the more it suffers, inflicts boundless cruelty on me without fear of sin.

4. Everyone who sees my wonder knows nothing of my Leylâ-like beloved; not knowing that face (that reason), they ask me questions that demand an answer.

5. O Seyyid Nigârî, if that graceful gazelle of mine saw me at the side of the heart's road, she would pull my ear.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The rhyme of this short five-couplet ghazal is built on words with two meanings. At the outset the word "âl" occurs twice: in the first line it means a trick, a ruse, in the second the colour red. The beloved puts on bright clothes and drinks wine, and her cheek reddens; but this flush too is a game, a trap laid for the lover. In couplet four the word "vech" does the same work: it means both face and reason, ground. Those who see the lover's wonder have not seen the beloved's face, and so they do not know the reason for his wonder; they keep asking a question whose answer lies in the face.

In the next couplet the phrase "kâfir peçe", the infidel veil, carries on the image of the ghazal that says "Küfr-i zülfündür hidâyet". At the root of the word küfr (unbelief) lies the sense of covering; the veil that covers the face is therefore an unbeliever. This infidel veil has wrecked the lover's house and home and now has designs on his faith. The third couplet briefly repeats a thought found in many ghazals of the divan: knowing that the lover feels joy in cruelty, the beloved knows no measure in her tyranny. "Bî-übâl" means without sin, without counting it a sin; the beloved does not see tormenting the lover as a sin.

At the close the beloved is a gazelle, and if she saw the lover at the side of the heart's road she would "gûş-mâl", pull his ear. Ear-pulling was a light punishment given to pupils in the old schools; the beloved's scolding of the lover is shown as a teacher warning a pupil. That the two-sensed "âl" rhymes twice in the opening couplet sets the game going from the start; "hâl, übâl, su’âl, gûş-mâl" share its "-âl", and the refrain is "eyler bana" (does to me).

Bibliography

Online sources