Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilâtün Fâ‘ilün

Kıl siyâset nefse kılsun tâ‘at ey erbâb-ı tâc
Bende kim havf eylemezse şâhına virmez harâc
Âteş oldum bend bend yandım ki yakdım ‘âlemi
Yanmadın pervânesin elbette yandırmaz sirâc
Pâk kıl şîşe-i kalbi menzil-i rindâne gel
Bâde koymazlar ana kim sâf dil olmaz zücâc
Ey viren sevdâya dil pâk eyle dil pâk eyle dil
‘Aşk bâzârında olmaz sâf kim bulmaz revâc
Ol reh-i ‘anber-feşân kim reh-güzârındır senin
Raht-hâb itdim has ü hârın gubârın başa tâc
Ey ki her dem ‘âşıkãne ben senin kurbânınam
Âteş-i hicrânıma şehd-âb-ı la‘lindir ilâc
Bâğ-ı sevdânın Nigârî bülbül-i şeydâsıyam
Bağr-ı pür hûnum gülümdür âh-ı gül-gûnum ağac

In English

1. O wearers of crowns, punish the self so that it may obey; a servant who does not fear pays no tribute to his king.

2. I became fire, I burned joint by joint and set the world alight; the lamp surely does not burn its moth unless it burns itself.

3. Cleanse the flask of the heart and come to the dwelling of the rinds; they pour no wine for one whose heart is not pure, into that glass.

4. O you who have given your heart to passion, cleanse your heart, cleanse your heart; in the market of love what is not pure finds no favour.

5. I made the rubbish of that ambergris-scattering road you pass my bed, and its dust a crown on my head.

6. O you to whom I am every moment a lover's sacrifice, the cure for my fire of separation is the honey-water of your ruby lips.

7. Nigârî, I am the love-mad nightingale of the garden of passion; my blood-filled breast is my rose, my rose-red sigh my tree.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The ghazal opens by telling the training of the self in the language of the palace. The "erbâb-ı tâc", the wearers of crowns, rulers, must apply "siyâset" to the self; in Ottoman usage siyâset also means punishment, chastisement. A servant who does not fear pays no tribute to his king; the self too does not obey unless it fears punishment. In Sufism the training of the self is likened to subduing a rebel; Nigârî builds this comparison with the state's order of tax and punishment. The crowned ruler here is the one who governs his own heart.

The second couplet adds a logic to the image of candle and moth: the lamp cannot burn its moth unless it burns itself. The lover first burned joint by joint, became fire, then set the world alight. To kindle another one must first burn; this is close to the thought that a spiritual guide can raise his disciple only through his own burning. The third and fourth couplets ask for purification: if the flask of the heart is not clean, no wine is poured into it in the rinds' gathering; in the market of love what is not pure finds no favour. In the fourth couplet the phrase "pâk eyle dil", cleanse the heart, is repeated three times and reinforces the counsel like a plea.

In the last couplet the poet introduces himself as the nightingale of the garden of passion: his bloody breast is his rose, his rose-red sigh his tree. This form of "ağac", tree, written with the letter cim, fits the rhyme and is also close to the Azerbaijani pronunciation. Tâc appears twice in the rhyme; with harâc, sirâc, zücâc, revâc, ilâc and ağac, the long "-âc" and the short "-ac" are used side by side.

Bibliography

Online sources