Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Olmadı bugün teskîn-i hicrânıma bâ‘is
Dildâr ile dün eylediğim zevk-i ehâdîs
Biz nâz u niyâz ile geçendik gice ammâ
Söylendi seher bir niçe bîhûde havâdis
Bahs eyledi şeb-tâ-seher uşşâk-ı sühan-sâz
Ammâ yine kaldı ser-i zülfünde mebâhis
Erbâb-ı vera‘ virdi keder bezm-i safâya
Bilmem nereden geldi o mâye-i habâ’is
Bâ‘is nigeh-i şûrişin ey âfet-i devrân
Her fitne cihân içre ki el-hak ola hâdis
Ferhâd ile Mecnûn rakamın çekdi ki üstâd
Yazdı beni ser defter-i ‘uşşâkda sâlis
Ferhâd gidüp geldi bana nevbet-i Feryâd
İmdi benim ey Mîr Nigârî ana vâris

In English

1. The delight of the conversations I had with the beloved yesterday did not today become a cause of calm in my separation.

2. We had passed the night in coquetry and entreaty; but at dawn a few idle rumours were spoken.

3. The word-skilled lovers disputed from night until dawn; but the questions were again left (hanging) at the tip of your curl.

4. The scrupulous brought sorrow to the gathering of joy; I do not know where that leaven of vileness came from.

5. O calamity of the age, the cause of every mischief that occurs in the world is truly your tumult-raising glance.

6. The master wrote the record of Ferhad and Majnun; and he wrote me third at the head of the register of lovers.

7. Ferhad has gone, the turn for lamenting has come to me; O Mîr Nigârî, now I am his heir.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The rhyme words of the ghazal come from the language of learned gatherings: "ehâdîs", conversations but also hadiths; "havâdis", news, events; "mebâhis", subjects of disputation; "hâdis", occurring; "vâris", heir. The lover's night with the beloved is told in these words and resembles a night in a madrasa: the "uşşâk-ı sühan-sâz", word-skilled lovers, disputed until dawn. But the disputes were left "ser-i zülfünde", at the tip of the curl. The tip of the curl is the image both of what is scattered and unresolved and of the beloved herself; the question was not settled and remains hanging with the beloved.

The sixth couplet describes a register of lovers. The "üstâd", the master, that is fate or love, first wrote Ferhad and Majnun into this register, then entered Nigârî as the third. Ferhad by digging through the mountain and Majnun by falling into the deserts became the first names of this register. In the seventh and final couplet Ferhad has gone, the "nevbet-i feryâd", the turn for lamenting, has come to the poet, and the poet counts himself his "vâris", his heir. A chain of love has been formed; as deputies succeed one another in the Sufi orders, lovers too take one another's place.

The fourth couplet shows the one shadow of that night: the "erbâb-ı vera‘", those who scrupulously avoid anything doubtful, have brought sorrow to the gathering of joy. "Habâ’is" means vile things, filth, and the poet says he does not know where they came from. The rhyme heard as "-is" (bâ‘is, ehâdîs, havâdis, mebâhis, habâ’is, hâdis, sâlis, vâris) is written in Arabic script with the letter se.

Bibliography

Online sources