Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

‘Aceb nakş u ‘aceb nakkãş ‘aceb pergârdır sevdâ
‘Aceb meşk ü ‘aceb meşşâk ‘aceb hoşkârdır sevdâ
‘Aceb bî-yâr u bî-yâver ‘aceb bî-tîr ü bî-hançer
Bahâdır şîr-i cenk-âver ‘aceb serdârdır sevdâ
‘Aceb hâlet ki bî-âlet ‘aceb hikmet ki bî-zahmet
Meşakkatsız dil-i vîrâneyi i‘mârdır sevdâ
Açılmaz bir mu‘ammâdır bilinmez ‘ilm-i kimyâdır
Mücerred gaybdır düşvâr-ter-esrârdır sevdâ
Delîl-i râh-ı Leylâ mahrem-i esrârdır ammâ
Ebü'l-‘uşşâkdır ferzend-i hüsn-i yârdır sevdâ
Miyân-ı âşık u ma‘şûka dâir bir peyemberdir
Nebiyyü'l-âşıkãndır cibrîl-i dildârdır sevdâ
Edîb-i kûdekân-ı mekteb-i ‘ilm-i ma‘ârifdir
Ki Rabbü'l-‘ârifândur perveriş-kerdârdur sevdâ
Sırât-ı müstakîm râh-ı kavîm mi‘râc-ı bî-tâdır
Hidâyetdir tarîk-ı Ahmed-i Muhtârdır sevdâ
Nigârî dâmenin tut hâk–i pâyin öp ki merdâna
Yed-i Hayber-güşâdır fâtih–i dîdârdır sevdâ

In English

1. What a marvellous design, what a marvellous designer, what a marvellous compass is passion (sevdâ); what a marvellous lesson in calligraphy, what a marvellous calligraphy master, what a marvellous fine craft.

2. Without friend or helper, without arrow or dagger, a valiant like a warring lion; what a marvellous commander passion is.

3. A marvellous state without tools, a marvellous wisdom without toil; passion rebuilds the ruined heart without effort.

4. Passion is a riddle that cannot be solved, an alchemy no one knows; it is the unseen itself, the hardest of secrets.

5. It is the guide on the road to Leylâ, the confidant of secrets; yet passion is the father of lovers and also the child of the beloved's beauty.

6. Passion is a prophet going between the lover and the beloved; it is the prophet of lovers, the Gabriel of the beloved.

7. It is the teacher of manners to the children in the school of mystical knowledge; for the Lord of the gnostics raised it. (The second line can be understood in two ways: it may also be read as "passion is the work of the Lord of the gnostics; it is the one who nurtures".)

8. Passion is the straight path, the firm road, an ascension (mi‘râc) without equal; it is right guidance, the way of Ahmed the Chosen (the Prophet Muhammad).

9. Nigârî, hold its skirt, kiss the dust of its feet; for passion is the hand that manfully opened Khaybar, the conqueror of the beloved's face.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Every couplet of the ghazal ends with the refrain "sevdâ", and throughout the poem titles rain down on this word. In Sufi poetry sevdâ is less the worldly obsession of melancholy love than the state of love that carries a person beyond the bounds of reason towards the beloved. Nigârî does not define it; he describes it through a series of crafts, ranks and offices. In turn passion is a painter and a painting, a calligrapher and a calligraphy lesson, a commander, an alchemist, a guide, a prophet, a teacher, and finally a conqueror.

The first couplet is built with words taken from the artist's workshop. "Nakş" (design, ornament) and "nakkâş" (the one who makes it), "meşk" (the calligraphy student's practice from a model) and "meşşâk" (the master who sets the model) are pairs from the same root; "pergâr", the compass, is also a tool of this workshop. Passion is both the work and the very hand that makes it. In the second and third couplets the words formed with "bî-" (without) stress how tool-less this mastery is: a warrior without arrow or dagger, a deed without tools, a repair without toil. In the fourth couplet passion is likened to alchemy; in divan poetry alchemy is the secret science that turns copper into gold, and it is one of the oldest images for love transforming the heart.

The fifth and sixth couplets carry the boldest images of the ghazal. Passion is both "the father of lovers" and "the child of the beloved's beauty"; the same feeling gives birth to the lover and is born of the beloved's beauty. Immediately after, passion becomes a prophet carrying messages between lover and beloved, the Gabriel of the beloved. In divan poetry the messenger between beloved and lover is usually the morning breeze; Nigârî moves this role into the language of revelation and presents love as a kind of channel of revelation.

The last two couplets tie the poem to the centre of the faith. Passion is the "sırât-ı müstakîm", the straight path known from the Fatiha, and the way of the Prophet Muhammad. The "Yed-i Hayber-güşâ" of the pen-name couplet, the hand that opened Khaybar, alludes to Ali, who according to tradition opened the gate of the fortress of Khaybar. Love of Ali recurs often in Nigârî's divan; here passion turns into a force that "conquers" the beloved's face as Ali's hand opened Khaybar. From the workshop's "pergâr" to the "dîdâr" of the last couplet, the rhyme keeps to "-âr": pergâr, hoşkâr, serdâr, i‘mâr, esrâr, yâr, dildâr, kerdâr, Muhtâr, dîdâr.

Bibliography

Online sources