Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fa‘lün

Kim ki bīmār-ḫāneye girdi
Eceli geldi ḳabż-ı rūḥ itdi
Çünki içdi naṣūḥī şerbetini
Ṣıḥḥata tevbe-i naṣūḥ itdi

In English

1. Whoever entered the hospital, his appointed hour came and took his soul.

2. For he drank Nasûhî's sherbet, and so made a sincere repentance of good health, never to return to it. ("Tevbe-i naṣûḥ" is a sincere repentance made never to go back; the patient who drinks Nasûhî's sherbet likewise renounces his health, never to return to it.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a kıt‘a (fragment) of two couplets; only the second lines of the couplets rhyme: "rūḥ itdi" and "naṣūḥ itdi". The rhyme is "-ūḥ" and the redif (refrain word) is "itdi". The metre is from the hafîf family of aruz (quantitative metre), "fā‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fa‘lün"; the edition does not state the metre. The kıt‘a is number L in Ahmet Kartal's edition. Âşık Çelebi too quotes the same kıt‘a, not in Basîrî's entry but in the entry on a poet named Nasûhî, saying "Baṣīrī daḫı Naṣūḥī ḥaḳḳında dimişdür", Basîrî too spoke about Nasûhî. In his text the first line of the second couplet reads "Her kim içdi Naṣūḥi şerbetini". The word "naṣūḥī" in Kartal's text is set in lower case; Âşık Çelebi's record shows that the word is a personal name.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The kıt‘a is a satire, and its whole wit rests on a play on words. "Tevbe-i naṣûḥ", mentioned in the Qur'an, means a sincere repentance made never to return to sin. Nasûhî, on the other hand, is the pen name of a physician. Basîrî says that the patient who drinks Nasûhî's sherbet, that is, his medicine, "makes a sincere repentance of good health": the patient has renounced his health never to return to it, that is, he has died. The use of a religious term combined with a physician's name to express his incompetence gives the kıt‘a a sharp mocking tone. The plain statement of the first couplet, that everyone who enters the hospital dies, prepares the wit of the second. "Ḳabż-ı rûḥ", the taking of the soul, is also a religious expression and reinforces the serious-seeming language of the satire.

Historical Context

Âşık Çelebi relates that Nasûhî was from Edirne, that he was first a druggist, that one corner of his shop was full of fragrances and another of bottles of sherbet, and that the refined people of the city gathered there. According to the biographer, Nasûhî was peerless in making sherbets and as a physician became chief physician of the Edirne hospital. Âşık Çelebi also tells of his fame in medicine in a half-joking manner and gives Basîrî's kıt‘a in that context. Basîrî is known for his jests and satires; the biographers say that he needled even the great men of state with his words. This kıt‘a too is a short and effective example of the poet's satirical side. When it was written is not known.

Bibliography

  • Ahmet Kartal, "Basîrî ve Türkçe Şiirleri", İlmî Araştırmalar: Dil, Edebiyat, Tarih İncelemeleri 10 (2000), pp. 77-96, kıt‘a L: p. 95, https://acikerisim.fsm.edu.tr/xmlui/handle/11352/1033.
  • Âşık Çelebi, Meşâ'irü'ş-şu'arâ, ed. Filiz Kılıç, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), pp. 374-375, entry on Nasûhî; pp. 180-182, entry on Basîrî. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Online sources