Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilün

Uyma ey dil yile kılma til-i berbâd ile bahs
‘Ukalâ eylemez elbette perî-zâd ile bahs
Hazer it çeşm-i çep-endâz ile kec söylemegil
Kıymagil cânına gel eyleme cellâd ile bahs
Her ne söyler sana mug söyle belî yok dime kim
Kılmaz erbâb-ı hired sâhib-i irşâd ile bahs
Kadh-i erbâb-ı kadehden hazer eyle zîrâ
Deşt-i hırmâna düşer eyleyen evtâd ile bahs
Gamzeye kem bakanın çeşmine ağlar gelür
Eyleyen pâ-zede-i kahr olur üstâd ile bahs
Şems rûyunla hüsün bahsine girmez ne ‘aceb
Ağzına sığmaz anun Hudâ-dâd ile bahs
Var sünbülde eger bûy-ı dil-âvîz ammâ
Başına düşmez anun kâkül-i gülzâr ile bahs
Şevk-i şîrîn-leb ile ağlayarak olmaz ‘aceb
Duta dağlar eteğin dil ide Ferhâd ile bahs
Kanı ey Mîr Nigârî kadeh-endâz-ı elest
Taraf-ı ‘aşk tutup eyleye zühhâd ile bahs

In English

1. O heart, do not follow the wind, do not dispute with the scattered lock; the wise surely do not dispute with one of fairy birth.

2. Beware of the sidelong-glancing eye, do not speak crookedly to it; do not throw your life away, come, do not dispute with the executioner.

3. Whatever the Magian tells you, say "yes", do not say "no"; for people of reason do not dispute with one who holds the authority to guide.

4. Beware of reviling the people of the cup; for whoever disputes with the pillars (evtâd) falls into the desert of deprivation.

5. Weeping comes to the eye of one who looks askance at the glance; whoever disputes with the master is crushed under the foot of wrath.

6. Is it any wonder that the sun does not enter a contest of beauty with your face; disputing with God-given beauty is beyond its place.

7. Though the hyacinth has a heart-ravishing scent, disputing with the forelock like a rose garden is not its business.

8. No wonder if, weeping with longing for the sweet-lipped one (Shirin), the heart grasped the skirts of the mountains and disputed with Ferhad.

9. O Mîr Nigârî, where is the one who drank the cup of Alast, who would take the side of love and dispute with the zealots?

Literary and Historical Commentary

The se section opens with the refrain "bahs", and the ghazal proceeds like a list of those with whom one must not dispute. Bahs in the madrasa tradition is the mutual discussion of a question, a learned disputation; in the preceding cupbearer rubai the same word served as the rhyme. The heart must not dispute with the wind, with one of fairy birth, with the executioner-glanced eye, with the Magian who guides, with the people of the cup, with the master. Each couplet is built like a rule of manners and draws the hierarchy of the gathering of love: no objection is raised to the word of the beloved or of the tavern elder.

Couplets three and four put this hierarchy into the language of the Sufi order. The Magian, the Zoroastrian who keeps the tavern, is here a "sâhib-i irşâd", a guide with authority to show the way; to him one says "belî", yes, not "no". The word "belî" also recalls the answer the souls gave to God at the Covenant of Alast. The drinkers of the cup are "evtâd": the name in Sufism of the four saints believed to hold up the world. Whoever disputes with them falls into the "deşt-i hırmân", the desert of deprivation.

The last couplet reverses the prohibition on dispute. The heart, counselled throughout the ghazal to avoid disputing, seeks a disputant at the very end: where is the "kadeh-endâz-ı Elest", the one who drank the cup of Alast, who said "yes" to love in pre-eternity, to take love's side and dispute with the zealots? Manners are owed to the beloved; against the zealot, disputing is a duty. The "-âd" pattern of the rhyme (berbâd, perî-zâd, cellâd, irşâd, evtâd, üstâd, Hudâ-dâd, Ferhâd, zühhâd) breaks only in the seventh couplet, where "gülzâr" stands in the rhyme position.

Bibliography

Online sources