Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘ilün fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün

Şol nāzenīn ki dil-i zārım āşinādır aña
Belāyı gör ki güzeller de mübtelādır aña
Yaḳıp yıḳarsa dil ü cānım i‘tirāż edemem
Ne söyleyim biri ḳurban biri fedādır aña
Sezā mı bāġda gülgeşte-i nā-sezālar ile
Ne ṭañ ederse bed-endīşler sezādır aña
Ṭabī‘atı ḳatı nāzından ol şeh-i ḥüsnüñ
Şikāyet eyleyemem cevrden cefādır aña
Ḥikāyet etme baña ḥūr-ı ‘aynı ey vā‘iẓ
Ki dōst teşnesiyem raġbetim añadır aña
Füsūn u ġanc u delāl u girişme vü şūḫī
Bütün benim de var eksik hemīn vefādır aña
Ne dem ki eyleye tertīb bezm-i sāġ u ṭarab
Nevā-ṭırāz Basīrī-i bī-nevādır aña

In English

1. That coy beauty whom my wailing heart knows and is bound to is such that, see the calamity, even the beauties are smitten with him.

2. Should he burn and ruin my heart and soul, I cannot object; what can I say: the one is his sacrifice, the other his ransom.

3. Is it fitting for him to stroll in the garden with the unworthy? No wonder: whatever the ill-minded do (or say) is what he deserves. (The couplet can be read in two ways: the beloved has earned the evil gossip because he strolls with the unworthy; or "ne ṭañ", in the sense of "what wonder", says that whatever the ill-intentioned do suits him.)

4. Because that king of beauty's nature is so very coy, I cannot complain of his cruelty; a complaint feels to him like cruelty. (The words "cevrden cefādır aña" in the line are obscure; the translation takes as its basis the sense that even a complaint would count as a torment to the coy beloved.)

5. O preacher, do not tell me of the wide-eyed houris of paradise; I thirst for the friend, my desire is for him.

6. Spell, coquetry, airs, flirtation and playfulness; all of these he has in full, only fidelity is lacking. (The words "bütün benim de var" are not clear; the general sense of the line is that the beloved has every kind of beauty and coquetry, and only fidelity is missing. "Ġanc" must be this edition's spelling of the Persian "ġunc" and means coquetry, flirtatious grace.)

7. Whenever he arranges a gathering of cup and joy, the one who makes melody for it is the poor, "melodyless" Basîrî. (In place of the word printed "sāġ" in the edition, "sāz" (instrument) is probably meant; "bezm-i sâz u tarab" is a gathering of music and joy. "Nevâ" means both melody and sustenance, means of living.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of seven couplets in the müctes family of aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "mefā‘ilün fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün"; the source does not state the metre, which emerges from scansion. The redif (refrain word) is "-dır aña" (is to him); the rhyme rests on the sound "-ā": āşinā, mübtelā, fedā, sezā, cefā, aña, vefā, bī-nevā. In the fifth couplet the phrase "añadır aña" repeats the word "aña" in the rhyme position. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet in the spelling "Basīrī".

This ghazal is not among the Turkish poems in the divan manuscript written in Basîrî's own hand. Ahmet Kartal gives it under the heading "Basîrî'nin Diğer Şiirleri" (Basîrî's other poems), from Cemal Kurnaz's book Türkiye-Orta Asya Edebî İlişkileri, published in 1999. From which source Kurnaz took this ghazal is not stated in Kartal's article. The spelling of the text is close to modern orthography ("-dır", "benim", "edemem"); this suggests that the ghazal was either taken from a late copy or simplified by its publisher. The typesetting "ganc u êalāl" in the edition has been read as "ġanc u delāl". To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal begins by describing a beloved with whom even the beauties are smitten; the words "belāyı gör", "see the calamity", in the opening couplet show that the lover meets this state with both admiration and complaint. In the second couplet heart and soul are like two sacrifices offered to the beloved: one becomes "kurban", sacrifice, the other "fedā", ransom. The choice of these two words from the same circle of meaning forms a congruence of images (tenasüp). In the third couplet the beloved is reproached for strolling in the garden with the unworthy; the derivation (iştikak) between "sezā" (fitting) and "nā-sezā" (unworthy) binds the two lines of the couplet together.

The fifth couplet works a familiar contrast of divan poetry: the preacher speaks of the houris of paradise, while the lover thirsts only for "the friend". The lover's preference for an earthly beloved over the promise of paradise is a familiar answer of the free-spirited rinds to the zealot. In the sixth couplet the elements of the beloved's beauty and coquetry are listed one after another: spell, coquetry, airs, flirtation and playfulness. This list is cut short at its last word by the lack of fidelity, and the real sting of the couplet gathers in this lack.

In the final couplet the word "nevā" forms a double entendre (tevriye). "Nevā-ṭırāz" means one who arranges melody, a musician or singer; "bī-nevā" means both without melody and destitute, poor. That the one who makes melody in the beloved's gathering is Basîrî, himself poor, creates a contrast between the two senses. Being the poet of the gathering also agrees with the tezkires' description of Basîrî as the salt of every gathering.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Âşık Çelebi, Meşâ'irü'ş-şu'arâ, ed. Filiz Kılıç, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), p. 180, entry on Basîrî. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

Books

  • Ahmet Kartal, "Basîrî ve Türkçe Şiirleri", İlmî Araştırmalar: Dil, Edebiyat, Tarih İncelemeleri 10 (2000), pp. 77-96, "Basîrî'nin Diğer Şiirleri", ghazal 1: p. 96 (note 21: Kurnaz 1999, p. 141), https://acikerisim.fsm.edu.tr/xmlui/handle/11352/1033.
  • Cemal Kurnaz, Türkiye-Orta Asya Edebî İlişkileri, Ankara: Akçağ Yayınları, 1999, p. 141 (from Kartal 2000's quotation; the book itself was not seen).

Online sources