Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilün

Hasretinle sanemâ sîneme dâğlar çekilüp
Yanmışam ağlamışam ‘aynıma ağlar çekilüp
‘Aşk-ı dildâr-ı ezel bârıdur ey dil eknûn
Kimse bilmez hele ol bârı ne câğlar çekilüp
Şânelenmiş görünür zülf-i girih-gîr-i nigâr
Gãlibâ bağlamağa ‘âşıka bağlar çekilüp
Kâr ebrûlara çekmiş yine ol mâh bugün
Hâzır ol hançere ey dil yine zâğlar çekilüp
Böyle ol bülbül-i şûrîde ki feryâd eyler
Görünür eyle ki gülzârına zâğlar çekilüp
Zülfe saykal virilüp tâze zerâfşân olmuş
Meger ol mürg-ı dili tutmağa ağlar çekilüp
Kûy-ı dildâreye ‘azm eylemiş erbâb-ı gönül
Rişte-i cânlar ile yüklere bağlar çekilüp
Hasret-i yâr ile ey Mîr Nigârî heme dem
Yanmışam sîneme eyvâh ne dâğlar çekilüp

In English

1. O idol, with longing for you brands were pressed on my breast, I burned and wept; weeping was drawn over my eyes.

2. O heart, the love of the beloved of pre-eternity is a burden you now carry; no one knows in what ages that burden was taken up.

3. The beloved's knotted curl looks combed; it seems bonds have been drawn to bind the lover.

4. That moon-faced one has again drawn kohl on her brows today; O heart, be ready for the dagger, the blades have been whetted again. (The word "kâr" in the line is not clearly understood; it has been guessed to be kohl drawn on the brows.)

5. That distraught nightingale cries out so, as if crows had crowded into its rose garden.

6. The curl has been polished and freshly gilded; it seems nets have been spread to catch that bird of the heart.

7. The people of the heart have set out for the beloved's street; their loads have been tied and drawn with threads of soul.

8. O Mîr Nigârî, I have burned every moment with longing for my love; alas, what brands have been pressed on my breast.

Literary and Historical Commentary

All the rhymes of the ghazal meet in the sound "-ağlar", and most of the rhyme words carry two meanings. "Dâğlar" are the brands of love pressed on the breast, but the same sound also recalls mountains (dağlar). In the first couplet "ağlar" is weeping; in the sixth the same word is the plural of "ağ", net, and describes the trap nets spread to catch birds. "Bağlar" in the third couplet are the bonds that bind the lover, in the seventh the ropes that tie the loads. The two "zâğ" words in the fourth and fifth couplets are two different words: one is the whetted edge of a blade, the other the crow. When the same sound enters the rhyme with different meanings, divan poetry calls it cinas (homonymic pun); in this ghazal Nigârî makes the pun into a whole scheme of play.

The refrain "çekilüp", being drawn, joins a different action in every couplet: drawing a brand, drawing tears, drawing a load, drawing bonds, drawing an edge, drawing nets. The ability of the Turkish verb "çekmek" to serve in so many different idioms is the real material of the ghazal. In the fourth couplet the eyebrows resemble a dagger and the dagger's edge a whetted "zâğ"; when the beloved draws kohl on her brows the lover must be ready for the dagger. In couplet five the nightingale's cry is explained by crows crowding into the rose garden. In divan poetry the crow is the symbol of the rival or the strangers, who know nothing of beauty and spoil the garden.

The second couplet is the one openly Sufi place in the ghazal. "‘Aşk-ı dildâr-ı ezel", the love of the beloved of pre-eternity, is a burden the heart carries; no one knows in what ages this burden was taken on. The sura al-Ahzâb tells of the "trust" that the heavens, the earth and the mountains declined to bear and that man took on; the couplet may recall this trust, but the poet does not mention it.

Bibliography

Online sources