Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün

Görem bî-dâğ bu ‘âlemde âdem olmasun yâ Rab
Dağılsun nüh felek bî–mihr ‘âlem olmasun yâ Rab
Beden bî-derd ü cân bî–zevk ü ser bî-kâse-i ser-şâr
Ciger bî-dâğ u dil bî-sûz u bî-gam olmasun yâ Rab
Cem‘ olmuş sîne-i sûzânım üzre dâğ-der-dâğa
Ciger pergâlesinden gayr merhem olmasun yâ Rab
Dem–â–dem iltifât-ı gamze-i hûn-rîzden gayrı
Dil-i mecrûhuma ‘âlemde hemdem olmasun yâ Rab
Hadengi safha-i sînemde cevelân eylesün her dem
Kemân-ı gayr dildâre kadim ham olmasun yâ Rab
Harâbât içredir âbâd gönlüm kim bu dergâhın
Ziyâd olsun esâsı dem-be-dem kem olmasun yâ Rab
Nigârî gevher-i maksûdı buldum feyz yaşımda
‘Aceb deryâdır ol deryâ-yı bî-nem olmasun yâ Rab

In English

1. O Lord, let me not see in this world a single person who bears no brand of love; let the nine spheres scatter, O Lord, let there be no world without love.

2. O Lord, let there be no body without pain, no soul without delight, no head without a brimming cup; let there be no liver without a brand, no heart that does not burn, none without sorrow.

3. Brand upon brand has gathered on my burning breast; O Lord, let there be no salve for them but pieces of my liver.

4. O Lord, let my wounded heart have no companion in the world but the favour that comes every moment from the blood-shedding glance.

5. Let her arrows roam every moment over the page of my breast; O Lord, let my stature never bend to any bow but the beloved's.

6. My heart is flourishing within the ruined tavern; O Lord, may the foundation of this lodge grow at every moment and never diminish.

7. Nigârî, I found the pearl of my desire in the bounty of my tears; what a wondrous sea it is; O Lord, may that sea never run dry.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The divan's ghazals of the letter be open with this poem, and what makes it a ghazal of the letter be is its refrain: every couplet ends "olmasun yâ Rab" (let there not be, O Lord), and the last word "Rab" ends in the letter be. In Nigârî's divan the ghazals are ordered not by the rhyme letter but by the final letter of the line, refrain included; that is why ghazals whose refrain ends in elif, such as "sana" and "bana", were placed in the elif section.

The ghazal is a prayer turned upside down. People usually pray to be spared pain, wounds and grief; Nigârî asks that not one person remain in the world without a brand, without the wound of love. In couplet two the wish widens into a list: let there be no body without pain, no soul without delight, no head without a cup, no liver without a brand, no heart that does not burn, none without sorrow. These words built with the prefix "bî-" (without) count as a defect not want but the absence of love. In the first couplet there is also a closeness of sound between "bî-dâğ" (without a brand) and "dağılsun" (let it scatter): if the world is to be without brands, let the spheres fall apart.

In couplet five the word "ham" means bent, bowed: the lover's stature should bend only to the bow of the beloved's eyebrow, not to anyone else's. The sixth couplet sets two opposite words side by side: "harâbât", the ruined tavern, and "âbâd", flourishing. The heart has flourished in the ruins; the poet calls this tavern a "dergâh" and wishes its foundation to grow at every moment. The word, which also means a dervish lodge, reminds the reader that the language of the tavern describes a Sufi gathering. In the closing couplet the tears are a sea, and the pearl of desire has been found there; the poet asks that this sea never be "bî-nem", without moisture, that is, that his tears never dry. From "âdem" to "nem" the rhymes meet on "-em", with ‘âlem, gam, merhem, hemdem, ham and kem between.

Bibliography

Online sources