Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Sôfî bilmez mey-i sâfânı salâh ey sâkî
Açmayup rûyine yüz reng-i felâh ey sâkî
Mey-i sâfınla sen ashâb-ı safâ gönlünü gör
Göresin hayr du‘â şâm u sabâh ey sâkî

In English

1. O cupbearer, the Sufi does not know the goodness (salâh) of pure wine; the colour of salvation (felâh) has not opened on his face. (The line has been understood approximately.)

2. O cupbearer, with your pure wine look after the hearts of the people of purity; may you receive good prayers (from them) morning and evening.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The rhyme words of the quatrain recall two calls of the call to prayer: "salâh" and "felâh". In the ezan it is said "Hayye ale's-salâh, hayye ale'l-felâh", come to prayer, come to salvation. The "salâh" of the ezan is the pausal pronunciation of "salât", prayer, while the "salâh" of the poem means goodness, rightness; the two are different words that sound the same, whereas "felâh" means salvation in both places. Nigârî uses this closeness of sound against the Sufi: the Sufi does not know the "salâh", the goodness and rightness, of pure wine, and the colour of "felâh", salvation, has not opened on his face. "Sabâh" in the fourth line names one of the times when the call to prayer is heard, the morning. Words that summon to prayer are used in the language of the tavern to describe the goodness of pure wine.

The second couplet gives the cupbearer a counsel: if with her pure wine she looks after the hearts of the "ashâb-ı safâ", the people of purity, that is, the people of the heart, she will receive good prayers from them morning and evening. The Sufi does not know the worth of wine, but the people of purity know it and pray in return. The words "sâf", pure, and "safâ", joy and purity, come from the same root and stand side by side in the couplet; pure wine belongs to the people of purity.

With this quatrain the cim section ends; the rhymes salâh, felâh and sabâh end in the letter hâ (ح), and immediately after it the ghazals of hâ begin under the heading "Harfü'l-hâ".

Bibliography

Online sources