Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Görmegiçün nūr-ı Ḥaḳḳı dōst sīmāsında ben
Sākin oldum kūy-ı yārüñ Ṭūr-ı sīnāsında ben
Sevdigümden ayru Firdevsi baña ‘arż itse Ḥaḳ
Ṭurmazam maḥbūbsuz Firdevs-i a‘lāsında ben
Āhu gözlüm firḳatüñden olmışam Mecnūn gibi
Leylī-yi zülfüñ ucından ‘ışḳ ṣaḥrāsında ben
Nicesi terk eyleyem ol la‘l-i leb ẕikrini kim
Cān-ı şīrīn bulmışam la‘l-i şeker-ḫāsında ben
Ey Basīrī ṭañ mıdur dīvāne olsam şimdi kim
Yıllar olmışdur yilerüm zülf-i sevdāsında ben

In English

1. To see the light of God in the face of the Friend, I have settled on the Mount Sinai of the beloved's street. (Moses is told to have seen the light of God on Mount Sinai.)

2. If God offered me Paradise apart from the one I love, I would not stay even in the highest Paradise without the beloved.

3. My gazelle-eyed one, from parting with you, because of the Leyla of your locks, I have become like Majnun in the desert of love. ("Leylī" is both the name of Majnun's beloved and night; it suits the black locks.)

4. How should I give up the remembrance of that ruby lip, for I have found the sweet soul in its sugar-chewing ruby.

5. O Basîrî, is it strange if I go mad now, when for years I have been running in the passion of the locks? ("Sevdā" is both passion and black bile, which old medicine held to cause madness; it is tied to the black locks.)

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 "-ında ben", in ... I; the rhyme is the sound "-ā": sīmā, sīnā, a‘lā, ṣaḥrā, şeker-ḫā, sevdā. That every rhyming line ends with the word "ben", I, gives the ghazal a voice in which the first person weighs heavily. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. The ghazal is number XXXIII in Ahmet Kartal's edition. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet alludes to the story of Moses. The Qur'an tells that Moses wished to see God on Mount Sinai and that the mountain crumbled at God's manifestation. Basîrî likens the beloved's street to a Mount Sinai; the reason he dwells there is to see the light of God in the Friend's face. Since "dōst", Friend, is used in the language of Sufism both for the beloved and for God, the couplet can be read on two planes: love for a beautiful face and the manifestation of God's beauty in that face. The closeness in sound between "sīmā", face, and "sīnā", Sinai, also adds a pun to the couplet.

In the second couplet the lover says he would not enter even Paradise unless it were with the beloved. Firdevs is the highest level of Paradise; but Paradise without the beloved has no meaning for the lover. This bold hyperbole is a typical example of the attitude of divan poetry, in which love is placed above all else. In the third couplet the story of Leyla and Majnun is worked. The beloved's eye resembles a gazelle's; Majnun is known as the lover who roamed the desert with gazelles. The "Leylī" of the locks recalls both Leyla and night, that is, blackness; a strong congruence of images (tenasüp) is formed among gazelle, desert and Majnun.

In the fourth couplet the lip is likened to a ruby and called "şeker-ḫā", sugar-chewing. The lover says he has found the sweet soul in this lip. The idiom "cān-ı şīrīn", sweet soul, and the word sugar form a congruence of taste; the name "Şīrīn" also evokes the story of Ferhad and Shirin. In the closing couplet the poet says that since he has been running for years in the passion of the locks, it is no wonder that he should now go mad. The link between the meaning of sevda as black bile and the black locks recalls once more the old relation between love and madness.

Bibliography

Online sources