Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Kirpigüñ ucından ey zībā ḥabīb
İgne yimiş ite dönmişdür raḳīb
Biz anuñ derdine ‘ādet itmişüz
Başımuz aġrıtma billāh ey ṭabīb
Gül yüzinden ayru ṭar olmış yiri
Vechi var feryād iderse ‘andelīb
Dime nāṣıḥ baña kim ḳıl terk-i ‘ışḳ
Pendle Mecnūn ḳaçan olur lebīb
Gel Baṣīrīden işitgil bir nefes
Andan öñ kim diyeler miskīn ġarīb

In English

1. O lovely beloved, because of the tip of your eyelash the rival has turned into a dog that has swallowed a needle. ("A dog that has swallowed a needle" is a comparison used for someone who cannot keep still and writhes; the eyelash is likened to a needle.)

2. We have grown used to her pain; for God's sake do not give us a headache, O physician.

3. Parted from the rose's face, its place has grown narrow; the nightingale has good reason if it cries out. ("Vech" means both face and reason, cause; while the phrase "vechi var" means "it is justified", it also recalls the face, the face of the rose.)

4. O counsellor, do not tell me "give up love"; when has Majnun ever become wise through counsel?

5. Come, hear a breath from Basîrî, before they say "the poor stranger". (That is, before he dies and is spoken of as "the poor stranger".)

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‘ilün"; the edition does not state the metre, which emerges from scansion. In the first line the metre limps slightly at the words "Kirpigüñ ucından". The ghazal has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the sound "-īb": ḥabīb, raḳīb, ṭabīb, ‘andelīb, lebīb, ġarīb. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. The ghazal is number VIII in Ahmet Kartal's edition. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal tells of the heavy pains of love through the lively idioms of everyday speech. In the first couplet the rival has turned, because of the beloved's eyelash, into "a dog that has swallowed a needle". In divan poetry the eyelash is likened to an arrow, a dagger or a needle, and the rival, with a familiar insult, to a dog. The poet joins these two images with the common saying "like a dog that has swallowed a needle": the beloved's eyelash has pierced the rival and left him unable to keep still. The contrast between habib, beloved, and rakib, rival, also stands side by side in the rhyme of the couplet.

In the second couplet the words are addressed to the physician. The lover has grown used to the beloved's pain and so does not wish to be cured; he tells the physician "Başımuz aġrıtma", do not give us a headache. Kartal mentions this couplet as showing that Basîrî made the beloved's torments a habit. That the physician, who is expected to cure a headache, should himself be the headache adds a point of wit to the couplet. The third couplet works the motif of the rose and the nightingale. Parted from the rose's face, the nightingale's place has grown narrow and it is right to cry out. In the phrase "vechi var" the word "vech" means both "face" and "reason"; the use of this word in a couplet speaking of the rose's face is a double entendre (tevriye).

The fourth couplet is the one Kartal cites as an example of words spoken against the counsellor. The counsellor (nâsıh) tells the lover to give up love, but Majnun never became wise (lebîb) through counsel. The contrast between Majnun and lebîb, mad and wise, is the basis of the couplet. In the last couplet the poet invites the listener: a "nefes", a breath, a word or a poem, should be heard from Basîrî before he dies and is called "miskīn ġarīb", the poor stranger. The word "garip" means both forlorn and one far from his homeland. Since, according to the biographical anthologies of poets (tezkire), Basîrî was a poet who came from the Persian lands and lived in the Ottoman realm, a feeling of exile may also be sensed in these words; but this is only one possible reading.

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

Online sources