Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Vâ‘iz-i bî-mihre yüz dutdum didim ey bî-hicâb
Bî-habersin mushaf-ı ‘uşşâkdan ey bî-kitâb
Uğradın erbâb-ı dil hışmına kim dâim sözün
Dahldır mahzâ yerindir nâr u kârındır ‘azâb
Nâzır-ı dîdârlardır tâlib-i ruhsârlar
Dâhil-i ravza-i rü’yetdir o kavm-i bî-hisâb
Geçmezem râh-ı tecerrüdden Mesîhâ meşrebem
Tâ ki varam çekmezem câm-ı ta‘allukdan şarâb
Meskenim Elburz temkînim hevâdan geçmişem
Devr getür sahbânı ey ârâm-ı cânım bî-habâb
Ey müşevvik târ-mâr it bâ‘is-i teşvîk kim
Kâmil-i ‘aşkam ne lâzım çeng ü âheng ü rebâb
Uymazam zâhidlere zîrâ ki rind meşrebem
Varmazam vâ‘izlere zîrâ ki söyler bî-savâb
Ey Nigârî bahş-ı mevlâdır sana mahzâ ki sen
Eyledin her bir ‘amelden kâr-ı ‘aşkı intihâb

In English

1. I turned my face to the merciless preacher and said: O shameless one, O bookless one, you know nothing of the lovers' Quran.

2. You have incurred the wrath of the people of the heart; for your speech is always pure objection; your place is fire, your work torment.

3. Those who seek the face are those who gaze upon it; that countless company has entered the garden of vision.

4. I am of the Messiah's disposition, I do not leave the path of detachment; as long as I exist I do not drink wine from the cup of attachment.

5. My dwelling is Mount Elburz, my steadfastness has passed beyond desires; O peace of my soul, pass round the wine without froth.

6. O you who stir ardour, scatter the means of stirring it; I am perfect in love, what need is there of harp, melody and rebab?

7. I do not follow the zealots, for I am of the rind's disposition; I do not go to the preachers, for they speak amiss.

8. O Nigârî, that you have chosen the work of love out of every deed is purely the Lord's gift to you.

Literary and Historical Commentary

In the fourth couplet the poet introduces himself as "Mesîhâ meşreb", of the Messiah's disposition. Jesus is recalled in divan poetry as much for his life withdrawn from the world as for his breath that revived the dead: he had no house, wealth or wife, and it is said that he rose to heaven with a single needle. "Tecerrüd" means stripping oneself of worldly ties. The poet says he will not turn back from this path and adds that he will not drink wine from the "câm-ı ta‘alluk", the cup of attachment. In the language of the tavern every cup is a drunkenness; here attachment to the world is also thought of as a cup and refused. The rind's wine and the wine of worldly attachment are set apart.

The ghazal opens with one of the harshest examples of the argument with the preacher frequent in the divan. The poet calls the preacher "bî-hicâb", shameless, and "bî-kitâb", bookless: the preacher is one who never puts the book down, yet he knows nothing of the "mushaf-ı ‘uşşâk", the lovers' Quran. Earlier ghazals in the divan had already likened the beloved's face to a copy of the Quran; the book the preacher cannot read is that face. In the third couplet those who seek the face are counted as having entered the "ravza-i rü’yet", the garden of vision. Rü’yet is a term of theology for the believers' seeing God in the hereafter; the lovers have entered this garden already in this world.

Couplets five and six set up the lover's gathering. His dwelling is Mount Elburz; this lofty mountain, also named in Persian epic as the nest of the Simurgh, shows the lover standing above the world. The wine should go round without froth (bî-habâb), pure. The perfect lover needs no stirring of ardour, and harp and rebab are superfluous; the ghazal a page earlier in the divan also spoke of "a delight that comes without the sound of the rebab". The rhyme series opened by "bî-hicâb", flung at the preacher, stays on "-âb" through bî-kitâb, ‘azâb, bî-hisâb, şarâb, bî-habâb, rebâb, bî-savâb and intihâb.

Bibliography

Online sources