Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Vaṣluñıla ṭāli‘um bir laḥẓa fīrūz olmadı
Geldi nev-rūz u şeb-i hicrānımuz rūz olmadı
Her kişi ‘ayş u ṭarabda ben ġam u endūhda
Ḫalḳa nev-rūz oldı ammā baña nev-rūz olmadı
Dīde-i giryānum ol çābük-süvārı göricek
Ol ḳadar aġladı meydānında kim toz olmadı
Çekdiler şām-ı ġamuñda āh ‘āşıḳlar velī
Şu‘le-i āhum bigi biri şeb-efrūz olmadı
Bezm-i miḥnetde Baṣīrī āh-ı āteş-bārla
Şem‘ gibi şükr kim bir laḥẓa bī-sūz olmadı

In English

1. My fortune was not blessed for a single moment with union with you; Nevruz came, yet our night of separation did not turn to day. (Nevruz is the beginning of spring, when the days begin to prevail over the nights.)

2. Everyone is in pleasure and joy, I am in grief and sorrow; for the people Nevruz came, but for me Nevruz did not come.

3. When my weeping eye saw that nimble rider, it wept so much in his square that no dust rose.

4. Lovers heaved sighs in the evening of your grief, but none of their sighs lit up the night like the flame of mine.

5. Thank God that Basîrî, with his fire-raining sigh in the gathering of affliction, was never for a moment without burning, like a candle.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of five couplets in the remel family of aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün"; the edition does not state the metre, which emerges from scansion. The redif (refrain word) is "olmadı", did not become; the rhyme is the sound "-ūz": fīrūz, rūz, nev-rūz, toz, şeb-efrūz, bī-sūz. The Turkish word "toz", dust, is skilfully placed among the Persian rhyme words. The repetition of "nev-rūz" in both lines of the second couplet is deliberate. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. The ghazal is number XIX in Ahmet Kartal's edition. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first two couplets of the ghazal are built on Nevruz. Nevruz is the beginning of spring and of the new year, the day on which daylight begins to prevail over the night. For the lover, however, the night of separation has not turned to morning even on this day. "Fīrūz" means victorious and fortunate; it forms a chain of sound with "rūz", day, and "nev-rūz", new day. The contrast between night and day, fortune and victory, tells that the joy of the festival has not reached the lover. The second couplet repeats this thought in plainer language: everyone is making merry, the lover is in grief; for the people Nevruz has come, for him it has not. It is notable that a poet whom the biographical anthologies of poets (tezkire) describe as coming from the Persian lands should speak of festive joy through Nevruz; but Nevruz is also a familiar motif of spring in Ottoman poetry, and no conclusion about the poet's life can be drawn from these couplets.

The third couplet draws the liveliest scene of the ghazal. The beloved is a "çābük-süvār", a nimble rider, galloping his horse in the square. Dust is expected to rise in a square where horses are run; but the lover's eye has wept so much that its tears have wet the ground and no dust has risen. The congruence of images (tenasüp) among rider, square and dust joins with a hyperbolic outcome.

The fourth and fifth couplets work the fire of the sigh. Many lovers have sighed in the evening of grief, but none of their sighs has been a "şeb-efrūz", night-illuminating, flame like Basîrî's. In the closing couplet the poet likens himself to a candle in the gathering of affliction. The candle lights the gathering by burning; Basîrî too, with his fire-scattering sigh, has not been without burning for a single moment. The words "şükr kim", thank God that, show the lover's attitude of receiving pain as a blessing. The words evening, night, flame and candle, in contrast with day and Nevruz in the first couplets, complete the ghazal's arrangement between light and darkness.

Bibliography

Online sources