Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ûlü Fâ‘ilâtü Mefâ‘îlü Fâ‘ilün

Birdir gınâ-yı kalb ü gınâ bir değilse de
Birdir ziyâ-yı şems ü ziyâ bir değilse de
Birdir nevâ-yı zevk ü nevâ bir değilse de
Birdir safâ-yı vasl ü safâ bir değilse de
Birdir cefâ-yı hicr ü cefâ bir değilse de
Zevkin bihâr-ı sevreti âsûde hefveden
Aşkın nezîhdir kerem-i feyzi şehveden
Kalbim sürûr içinde güzel nâz ü ‘işveden
Bâlâ vü zîri bir görürüm fart-ı neşveden
Birdir gözümde arz u semâ bir değilse de
Zulmetle nûr bir görünür sath-ı cemrede
Mümkün değil mi şunları görmek bu ‘ibrede
Her dürlü zıd sıfatları her dürlü zümrede
Birleşdi reng-i zülf ü benagûş nazrada
Birdir bana sabah u mesâ bir değilse de
Şâhid değil midir maraz-ı aşka âh-ı serd
Her dem figân-ı kalb-i hazînimle rûy zerd
Dil istemez ki hâlimi bilsin hezâr ferd
Bîmâr-ı aşkım istemem aslâ ‘ilâc-ı derd
Birdir yanımda derd ü devâ bir değilse de
Asrî bilir şinâver-i deryâ girîvesin
Anlar fazîlet ehli güzel şi’r ü bîvesin
Takdîr ider meziyet-i vâlâ vü cîvesin
Rüşdî sühan-şinas bilir tarz ü şîvesin
Birdir edâ-yı şi’r ü edâ bir değilse de

In English

1. Wealth of the heart and wealth may not be one, yet they are one; the light of the sun and light may not be one, yet they are one; the melody of delight and melody may not be one, yet they are one; the joy of union and joy may not be one, yet they are one; the torment of separation and torment may not be one, yet they are one.

2. The surge of the seas of delight is calm and free of error; the bounty and grace of love are pure of lust. My heart is in gladness at the coquetry and charm of the fair one. From the excess of rapture I see above and below as one; earth and sky may not be one, yet in my eyes they are one. (The first line is obscure; "sevret" means surge or vehemence, "hefve" a slip or error, and the rendering is ours.)

3. On the surface of a live coal darkness and light appear as one; in this sight that teaches a lesson, is it not possible to see every kind of contrary quality together in every kind of people? As I gazed, the colour of the curls and the colour of the face ran together; morning and evening may not be one, yet to me they are one.

4. Is not the cold sigh a witness to the sickness of love? My face is pale with the cry that rises every moment from my grieving heart. The heart does not want thousands to know my state. I am sick with love and want no cure at all for my pain; pain and remedy may not be one, yet beside me they are one.

5. Asrî knows the hard passes through which the swimmer of the sea must go; the people of virtue understand fine poetry and its subtleties, and esteem lofty merit and its gleam. Rüşdî, who understands words, knows this style and manner: the manner of poetry and manner may not be one, yet they are one. (The words "bîve" and "cîve" in this stanza are rare words chosen for the rhyme; the edition offers no explanation of "bîve", and "cîve" means mercury in Persian. The rendering of these two words is our conjecture.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a tahmis on the five-couplet ghazal with the refrain (redif) "bir değilse de" by the Amasyan grand vizier Şirvânîzâde Mehmed Rüşdü Pasha (Rüşdî). In a tahmis three lines in the same metre and rhyme are added before each couplet of another poet's ghazal, building five-line stanzas. Here there are five stanzas and twenty-five lines; the last two lines of each stanza are Rüşdî's, the first three Asrî's. In the first stanza all five lines end with the sound "-â bir değilse de". In the other stanzas the added lines rhyme with the first line of the ghazal couplet: "hefveden, şehveden, ‘işveden, neşveden", "cemrede, ‘ibrede, zümrede, nazrada", "serd, zerd, ferd, derd", "girîvesin, bîvesin, cîvesin, şîvesin". According to Mücahit Kaçar the poem is written in the pattern "Mef‘ûlü Fâ‘ilâtü Mefâ‘îlü Fâ‘ilün". The lines of the ghazal within the tahmis show a few small differences of spelling from the text Hüsameddin gives just before it ("reng" for "renk", "benagûş" for "benâgûş", "sühan-şinas" for "suhân-şinâs"); the original text is given exactly as spelled in the tahmis.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Rüşdî's ghazal is built on the idea that things separate from or opposite to one another appear as one in the eyes of a person in love and rapture. Asrî extends this idea. In the first stanza he adds three new pairs to the ghazal's opening couplet: wealth of the heart and wealth, the light of the sun and light, the melody of delight and melody. In this way the ghazal's formula "Birdir ... bir değilse de" is repeated five times through the stanza and gives the poem the feel of a refrain.

In the second stanza Asrî seems to want to prevent a misreading of Rüşdî's phrase "fart-ı neşve" (excess of rapture): the surge of delight is free of error, the bounty of love is pure of lust. Considering that Hüsameddin openly describes the pasha's libertine temperament and love of pleasure, these lines can be read as an attempt to draw the ghazal in a Sufi direction; this is our interpretation. In the third stanza the unity of opposites is illustrated with an example: on the surface of a live coal darkness and light are seen together. There is antithesis between "zulmet" and "nûr", and congruence of images (tenasüp) between "cemre" (coal) and "nûr". The fourth stanza uses the divan image of lovesickness: the cold sigh and the pale face are the signs of the sickness of love.

The last stanza carries a refinement seen in the tahmis tradition: the pen names of the two poets come side by side in the same stanza. Asrî likens himself to a swimmer who knows the hard passes of the sea, and then brings in Rüşdî's couplet "the connoisseur of words knows this style". In this way he takes the epithet "suhân-şinâs" (connoisseur of words) from the ghazal's last couplet upon himself as well. There is tenasüp between "şinâver" (swimmer) and "deryâ" (sea). Kaçar says this tahmis is at least as successful as the ghazal itself and shows the poet's mastery of verse.

Historical Context

While writing Mehmed Rüşdü Pasha's long biography in the tenth volume of the History of Amasya, Hüsameddin says that the pasha was "an accomplished poet of libertine temperament" and quotes the ghazal he had seen in Fatîn's tezkire. He then says, "Müşârün-ileyhin şu gazeli tab'ımda bir küşâyiş uyandırdığından irticâlen şöyle tahmîs eyledim"; that is, because the ghazal awakened an opening in his temperament, he composed a tahmis on it without preparation, on the spot. Since the tenth volume was completed in 1932, the tahmis was most probably written in those years; this is an inference. Hüsameddin never saw the pasha: when the pasha died in 1874 the historian was five years old. The tahmis is a meeting in verse of two Amasyans, a grand vizier and a historian, separated by more than half a century. For the ghazal see Rüşdî, Ghazal 1, and for the pasha's life Rüşdî (Şirvânîzâde Mehmed Rüşdü Pasha).

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources