Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Müfte‘ilün Müfte‘ilün Fâ‘ilün

Ey meh-i ruhsâr-ı seher al nikãb
Cân vire dîdârına tâ âf-tâb
Câm-ı lebinden iderem ârzû
Şerbet-i güftâr u şarâb-ı hıtâb
Sünbül-i ser-geşteni gönlüm gibi
Zülf-i girih-gîrin idüp tâb tâb
Hâne-harâb eyledin ey meh beni
Derbeder itdin gezerem bâb bâb
Şâm u seher mest çıkup her yana
Kılma nazar olmaya ‘âlem harâb
Râh-ı mahabbetde vefâdır cefâ
Eyle cefâ eyle vefâ kıl sevâb
‘Aks olup âyîne-i tab‘ıma
Mushaf-ı rûyun ki cem‘ itdim kitâb
Eylemezem Mîr Nigârî suâl
Çekmeye la‘l-i lebi renc-i cevâb

In English

1. O moon-faced one of the dawn, lift your veil, so that the sun may give its soul to your face.

2. From the cup of your lips I long for the sherbet of speech, the wine of address.

3. Making your giddy hyacinth like my heart, your knotted curl twist upon twist...

4. O moon, you have made me one whose house is ruined; you have made me a wanderer going from door to door.

5. Do not go out drunk morning and evening and look in every direction, lest the world be ruined.

6. On the path of love cruelty is faithfulness; be cruel, be faithful, earn merit.

7. The Quran of your face was reflected in the mirror of my nature, and I gathered it as a book.

8. Mîr Nigârî, I ask no question, lest (the beloved's) ruby lips suffer the trouble of answering.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The seventh couplet is a brief account of how poetry is born. The beloved's face is a copy of the Quran; this copy has been reflected in the "âyîne-i tab‘", the mirror of the poet's nature, and the poet has gathered that reflection as a "book". The book here is the poet's poems, perhaps the divan itself. In another ghazal of the divan, too, desire for the beloved was said to have "written this collection". The poet presents what he writes not as his own invention but as the transfer to paper of a face's reflection in a mirror.

The last couplet shows a delicate courtesy. The lover asks the beloved no question, for if he did her ruby lips would have the trouble of answering. This is one of the most graceful examples of divan poetry's care not to hurt the beloved; her lips are so delicate that even speaking might tire them. In the second couplet, by contrast, the same lips are a cup, and the lover asks for the sherbet of speech from it: words turn into a wine to be drunk.

The fifth couplet warns the beloved with a hyperbole (mübalağa): let her not go out drunk morning and evening and look in every direction, or the world will be ruined. The sixth counts cruelty and faithfulness as two names of the same thing and tells the beloved to do both and earn merit by them. In the edition the third couplet is not completed by a verb; the result of twisting the curl is left unsaid. Doublings such as "tâb tâb" and "bâb bâb" sound the "-âb" rhyme (nikãb, âf-tâb, hıtâb, tâb, bâb, harâb, sevâb, kitâb, cevâb) once more inside the line. The ghazal is written in "müfte‘ilün müfte‘ilün fâ‘ilün".

Bibliography

Online sources