Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ûlü Mefâ‘îlü Mefâ‘îlü Fe‘ûlün

Bî-çârelerin derdine bir çâre kıl ey dost
Ok-ıla cigerin[i] sad pâre kıl ey dost
Besdir bu çekdüğümüz ‘akıl cefâsın
Algil bizi sahrâ-nişîn âvâre kıl ey dost
Al cânımızı söylerüz ammâ dimeyüz biz
Ruhsârını gizle günümüz kara kıl ey dost
Sûzânedir ol âteş-i hicrânına yanmış
Dîdârıla bir lutf dil-i zâre kıl ey dost
Dîdârına müştâkdır ‘aynım nigerândır
Bir nîm nazar âşık-ı dîdâra kıl ey dost
Müştâk-ı cemâlin seni ister bir inâyet
Ol tâlib-i dîdâr-ı vefâdâra kıl ey dost
Al cânımı bir cilve ile bile bir ikrâm
Bu Mîr Nigârîyi taleb-kâre kıl ey dost

In English

1. O Friend, find a remedy for the pain of the helpless; tear our liver into a hundred pieces with an arrow.

2. It is enough that we have suffered so much the torment of reason; O Friend, take us and make us vagabonds who dwell in the desert.

3. We say "take our souls", but we do not say "hide your cheek and make our day black", O Friend.

4. That heart burned in the fire of separation from you is burning; O Friend, grant a favour to the moaning heart by showing your face.

5. My eye longs for your face and keeps watching your road; O Friend, grant half a glance to the lover devoted to your face.

6. The one who longs for your beauty asks you for a kindness; O Friend, grant (a kindness) to that faithful seeker of your face.

7. Take my soul with a coquettish grace, and with it grant a favour too; O Friend, make this Mîr Nigârî one of those who seek.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The ghazal is built on the refrain "ey dost", O Friend, and this address has a history of its own in Sufi poetry. Since Yunus Emre, Dost, Friend, has been one of the warmest names for God in Turkish Sufi poetry; since the same word can be used for a worldly beloved, the poem stays open to both readings. Over seven couplets Nigârî lists what is asked of the Friend: a remedy, a liver torn by an arrow, vagabondage, a favour, half a glance, a kindness, and at the end a gift as the soul is taken.

The second couplet presents reason as a burden: "It is enough that we have suffered so much the torment of reason." The lover asks the Friend to turn him into a vagabond living in the desert. This is Majnun's path; reason is abandoned and the desert becomes the place of nearness to the beloved. In divan poetry reason and love are often set against each other and the side of love is taken; here Nigârî calls reason a torment and madness a deliverance.

The third couplet makes the ghazal's finest distinction. The lover is willing to say "take our souls" to the Friend, but he does not say "hide your cheek and make our day black". Death is accepted; the beloved's hiding her face is not; not seeing the face is a darker day than death. In the fifth couplet the request comes down to a "nîm nazar", half a glance; the lover's expectation falls, but his pleading deepens. From çâre and pâre in the opening couplet to taleb-kâre in the last, the rhyme keeps the "-âre" sound; âvâre, kara, zâre, dîdâra and vefâdâra are bound to it as well.

Bibliography

Online sources