Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün Mefâ‘îlün

Düşer toprağa dil zülfün serinde bir hevâ görgeç
Te‘alluk eylemek resm-i segândır bir nevâ görgeç
Görüp kanlu sirişkim yögrüşüp itler mezâk eyler
Ki zühd ehline adetdir sevinmek şorba görgeç
Öper hâk-i peyin fi'l-hâl gönlüm dürd-nûşânın
Ki ashâb-ı hulûs eyler sücûd ehl-i Hudâ görgeç
Dem-â-dem ger niyâz itsem yine ol serv nâz eyler
Ki nâz eyler belî erbâb-ı devlet bî-nevâ görgeç
Cemâlin pertevi kanda olursa segridir cânım
Gidüp pervâne çâbük-ter ne yerde bir ziyâ görgeç
Görem hıfzeylesün Mevlâ ne çâbükdür gözün zîrâ
Dil-i vahşânemi sayd eyledi ol ibtidâ görgeç
Nigârî cevr-i gamzenden şikâyet eylemez ammâ
Kılur izhâr-ı ahvâlin gedâlar pâdişah görgeç

In English

1. The heart falls to the ground on seeing a longing at the tip of your curl; to cling on seeing a morsel is the custom of dogs.

2. Seeing my bloody tears, the dogs jostle and taste them; just as it is the custom of the people of asceticism to rejoice on seeing soup.

3. My heart at once kisses the dust of the feet of the dreg-drinkers; for the people of sincerity bow down on seeing the people of God.

4. Though I plead every moment, that cypress still plays coy; yes, the people of fortune play coy on seeing a pauper.

5. Wherever the light of your beauty is, my soul leaps there; the moth goes swiftly anywhere on seeing a light.

6. May the Lord protect it, how swift your eye is; it hunted my wild heart the moment it saw it.

7. Nigârî does not complain of the cruelty of your glance; but beggars lay out their state on seeing a king.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The second couplet carries one of the most mocking of Nigârî's jabs at the zealots. The dogs that see the lover's bloody tears jostle and lick them; the poet explains this by a comparison: "zühd ehline âdetdir sevinmek şorba görgeç", it is the custom of the people of asceticism to rejoice on seeing soup. The joy of the zealot who claims to have renounced the world before a bowl of soup is likened to a dog before a morsel. The zealot's attachment to the world and his display are familiar themes of divan poetry, but saying it with so everyday a word as soup gives the couplet a particular edge.

The ghazal is built on the refrain "görgeç", on seeing, and is the third ghazal written with this refrain in the cim section of the divan. Each couplet pairs a moment of seeing with a behaviour: the dog that sees a morsel clings, the sincere man who sees the people of God bows down, the rich man who sees a pauper plays coy, the moth that sees light runs to it, the beggar who sees the king lays out his state. The second lines of the couplets work like proverbs and explain the lover's state in the first line by an everyday observation.

The "dürd-nûşân" of the third couplet, the dreg-drinkers, are the humble rinds who drink the dregs left at the bottom of the cup; the heart kisses the dust of their feet. The last couplet closes with a promise not to complain: Nigârî does not lament the glance's cruelty, but like a beggar who lays out his state on seeing the king, he tells his. "Segridir", leaps, in the fifth couplet recalls the verb "seğirtmek", to dash, which lives on in Azerbaijani and Eastern Anatolian dialects. The rhyme words are hevâ, nevâ, şorba, Hudâ, bî-nevâ, ziyâ, ibtidâ and pâdişah; "şorba" and "pâdişah" do not fully fit a pattern built on the long "-â".

Bibliography

Online sources