Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Âteş-i hasretle bağrım der kebâb-ender-kebâb
Merhamet hengâmıdır ey mug kücâ câm-ı şarâb
‘Arsa-i sevdâda cevlân eyler esb-i himmetim
İştiyâkım yer-be-yer gerçi tamâm olmuş şebâb
Mest-i bezm-i ‘işretem bî-mey-durur keyfiyyetim
Hâsılımdır zevk-ı bî-teşvîk u bî-bâng-i rebâb
Anlamaz ehl-i nazar keyfiyyetin ma‘zûrdur
Sôfî zîrâ kâr-ı bî-dâr anı bilmez mest-i hâb
Yaşım artar gam hücûmundan saçar âhım şerer
Böyledir kim berk-ı lâmi‘ yağmur olmaz bî-sehâb
‘Ârif olmaz kâr-ı erbâb-ı vera‘dan münfa‘il
Kim olur ashâb-ı temkîn bî-hatar bî-ıztırâb
Âşkârâsın hüveydâ şems tek ammâ sana
Ey Nigârî güft ü gûy ‘âşıkãnendir kıbâb

In English

1. With the fire of longing my breast is kebab upon kebab; O Magian, it is the hour for mercy, where is the cup of wine?

2. Though my youth has ended here and there, the horse of my aspiration gallops in the arena of passion, my longing goes on.

3. I am the wineless drunkard of the gathering, my rapture is without wine; what has come to me is a delight that needs no urging and no sound of the rebab.

4. The onlookers do not understand this rapture, and they are excused; for the Sufi drunk with sleep does not know the work of the one who is awake.

5. My tears increase under the assault of grief, my sigh scatters sparks; so it is: neither shining lightning nor rain comes without a cloud.

6. The gnostic is not affected by the doings of the scrupulous; for the people of steadfastness are without fear and without agitation.

7. O Nigârî, you are plain and manifest like the sun; yet the lovers' words are domes (coverings) over you. (The line is not clearly understood.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

The second couplet is one of the rare places in this part of the divan where the poet touches on his age: "gerçi tamâm olmuş şebâb", though youth has ended. The sources place Nigârî's birth in various years between 1797 and 1815, and his divan was printed in 1884, shortly before his death; it is not wrong to think that most of his poems were written in his mature years, but the date of this ghazal is unknown. In the couplet age is mentioned not as an obstacle but as a limit passed: youth is gone, yet the "esb-i himmet", the horse of aspiration, still gallops in the arena of passion.

The third and fourth couplets describe a drunkenness without wine. The lover is at the gathering, but his rapture does not come from wine; neither urging nor the sound of the rebab has aroused this delight. The "ehl-i nazar", the onlookers, cannot understand this state and are excused. Here the poet calls the Sufi "mest-i hâb", drunk with sleep: one drunk with sleep cannot know the work of the one who is awake. In Sufism "wakefulness" (bîdârî) means the heart being open to God; the poet presents his own drunkenness as wakefulness and the Sufi's sobriety as sleep.

The fifth couplet uses an observation of nature as proof: lightning and rain come from a cloud, so the tears and the spark-scattering sigh come from the cloud of grief. In the sixth couplet "verâ‘" means scrupulously avoiding anything doubtful; "temkîn" is a calm that is not tossed from state to state. The gnostic is not affected by the doings of the over-scrupulous. The "kebâb-ender-kebâb" of the opening couplet is one more instance of the "-ender-" pattern that builds every rhyme of "Ravza-i gülşende" and strengthens the alms couplet of "Başın ey servim". The "şebâb" of lost youth, the rebab and the Sufi's sleep, "hâb", all rhyme on "-âb": kebâb, şarâb, şebâb, rebâb, hâb, sehâb, ıztırâb, kıbâb.

Bibliography

Online sources