Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Sandılar ehl-i dilin zârın ‘abes ey sâkî
Kâr-ı peymâne-i ser-şârın abes ey sâkî
Kadeh-endâzlar içre eyle devrân eyle
Bilsün erbâb-ı vera‘ kârın ‘abes ey sâkî

In English

1. O cupbearer, they thought the moaning of the people of the heart futile; they thought the work of your brimming cup futile.

2. O cupbearer, pass the cup round among the drinkers, set it circling; let the scrupulous know that their own work is futile.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The rhyme of the quatrain rests on the repetition of a single word: "‘abes", futile, useless, meaningless. The word comes in three lines just before the refrain "ey sâkî" and is aimed at something different each time. The first two lines state the judgement of outsiders: they thought the moaning of the people of the heart and the cupbearer's brimming cup futile. In the fourth line the same word returns, and this time it is used of the "erbâb-ı vera‘", those who scrupulously avoid anything doubtful: let them know that their own work is futile. The judgement is turned back on those who pass it.

"Devrân eyle" in the third line means pass the cup round, but the word devrân also recalls the zikr performed while turning in the circle. When the circling of the cup, the turning of the gathering and the sound of moaning come together, what the scrupulous count futile is seen to resemble a gathering of worship. Pervane Bayram notes that all of Nigârî's cupbearer rubais are small sâkînâmes.

It is the first of the two rubais set at the end of the te section. In the edition it is given with the heading "Rubâî", and its rhyme, in keeping with the order of the divan, ends in the letter of the next section, se; the word "‘abes" is written in Arabic with the letter se. Immediately after comes the "Harfü's-sâ", the ghazals ending in the letter se. The quatrain is cast in the ramal pattern "fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilün".

Bibliography

Online sources