Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün

Sen tek ey vâ‘iz şarâb içmez kilâb
Ca‘le virmez nef‘ nefha-i kilâb
Tûtî söyler [çünki] isti‘dâdı var
Sohbet-i insânı fehm itmez gurâb
Derd-i ser çekdin velî bî-fâide
Söyledin bî-had velî çekdin ‘azâb
Yok-durur aslâ ki tahkîk itmişiz
Mest-i mihre rûz-ı mahşer ihtisâb
Dâmen-i pîr-i mugãndan üzme el
Cânın isterse muhalled ger sevâb
‘Aşk zevkın bilmez ‘âşık olmayan
İçmeyen bilmez nedir keyf-i şarâb
Seyr kıl gülzâra gör bülbül nice
Takrîr eyler ders-i ‘aşkı bî-kitâb
‘Aşk-ı Sîmurgı tarîk-ı vuslatı
Hüdhüd-ı ‘Attâr'ı söyler bâb bâb
Sayd-gâh-ı ‘aşkda sen tek esîr
Bî-had ey Mîr Nigârî bî-hisâb
‘Âşıkãne güft ü gû eyler gönül
Perde atmış tab‘ söyler bî-hicâb

In English

1. O preacher, dogs too, like you, do not drink wine; the breath of dogs does the dung beetle no good. (The second line is not clearly understood; in place of the word "kilâb" at its end one might expect "gülâb", rose-water.)

2. The parrot speaks, because it has the aptitude; the crow does not understand human conversation.

3. You suffered a headache, but to no use; you spoke without end, but suffered torment.

4. What we know for certain is that no account is demanded of the one drunk with love on the Day of Gathering.

5. If your soul wishes eternal merit, do not let go of the skirt of the tavern elder.

6. One who is not a lover does not know the delight of love; one who does not drink does not know what the pleasure of wine is.

7. Look at the rose garden, see how the nightingale expounds the lesson of love without a book.

8. Attâr's hoopoe tells, chapter by chapter, of love for the Simurgh and the road to union.

9. O Mîr Nigârî, captives like you in the hunting ground of love are countless, beyond reckoning.

10. The heart speaks like a lover; nature has cast off the veil and speaks unveiled.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The eighth couplet names Farîdeddîn Attâr. In Attâr's mesnevi Mantıku't-tayr (The Conference of the Birds) the birds set out to seek the Simurgh as their king; their guide is the hoopoe, and the journey is told as a long road of love through seven valleys. Nigârî fits this story into a single couplet: Attâr's hoopoe tells "bâb bâb", chapter by chapter, of love for the Simurgh and the road to union. Nezaket Memmedli, in her article examining the influence of Attâr and Rumi on Nigârî's poetry, quotes the second, seventh and eighth couplets of this ghazal together and notes that by "the language of birds" Nigârî, like Attâr, means the symbolic language of Sufism.

The birds of the ghazal support this reading. In couplet two the parrot (tûtî) speaks, for it has the gift of speech; the crow does not understand human conversation. In the seventh the nightingale expounds the lesson of love in the rose garden without a book. Parrot, nightingale and hoopoe are those who know and tell; the crow is the one who does not understand, and the preacher stands with it. The harsh comparison of the first couplet is part of this division too: the preacher is among those who keep away from wine, like dogs. The "ca‘l", dung beetle, of the second line is tied to an old comparison: this beetle, harmed by fine scent, is the symbol of one who cannot bear what is good. The word at the end of the line is printed in the edition as "kilâb", like the first line; in meaning "gülâb", rose-water, would fit better.

There is also a small difference between two editions. A. Azmi Bilgin gives the first line of the second couplet as "Tûtî söyler [çünki] isti‘dâdı var" and shows with square brackets that the word he added is his own; in the quotation based on Memmedli's Baku edition the same place reads "nutka isti‘dâdı var", it has the aptitude for speech. In Memmedli's quoted text the seventh couplet also begins "Sabr kıl" (be patient) instead of "Seyr kıl" (look). All ten rhyme words end in "-âb"; in order they are kilâb, gurâb, ‘azâb, ihtisâb, sevâb, şarâb, kitâb, bâb, hisâb, hicâb.

Bibliography

Online sources