Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Şu denlü tîr-i dil-dûzun tenimde cây-gîr oldu.
Benim her üstühânım sanki bir kandîl-i tîr oldu.

In English

1. So many of your heart-piercing arrows have lodged in my body that each of my bones has become, as it were, a "kandîl-i tîr". (The meaning of the last phrase is not certain; the possible readings are in the commentary.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is the only couplet that remains from Câmî Ahmed Efendi. Both lines end with the sound "-îr oldu"; "oldu" is the redif (refrain word), "cây-gîr" and "tîr" the rhyme words. That the lines rhyme shows the couplet to be the opening couplet (matla) of a ghazal (gazel); the rest of the ghazal is lost. Hüsameddin says he saw the couplet in the biographical anthology of poets (tezkire) of Kafzâde Fâizî. Since Kafzâde's anthology was not available, the text is given as in Hüsameddin's printing, together with the full stops at the ends of the lines.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplet carries to its furthest limit the familiar image (mazmun) that likens the beloved's glances to arrows piercing the lover's body. The arrows have lodged in the whole body, beyond the heart alone; "cây-gîr olmak" means to take up a place, to settle and stay. In the second line every bone turns into something full of arrows. The phrase "kandîl-i tîr" here can be understood in two ways. "Tîr" means arrow, and if the phrase is read as "lamp of arrows", the bone in which the arrows are stuck is likened to a chandelier hung with lights or to a hanging lamp. In Persian the planet Mercury is also called "Tîr"; in this reading the bone is like the shining lamp of Mercury. There is no explanation showing which is meant, and both readings are ours.

The word "tîr" occurs twice in the couplet: plainly in the sense of arrow in the first line, and as the rhyme word in the second. The repetition of the same word in different places suggests that the second occurrence may carry a separate meaning; this strengthens the possibility of a double entendre (tevriye). The bond formed among arrow, body, bone and lamp turns the pain of love into a light burning from inside the body.

Historical Context

The date of writing is uncertain, though there is an upper limit. Since Kafzâde Fâizî died in 1622, the couplet entered his anthology before that date, either in Câmî's lifetime or within the twelve years following his death in 1610. The article Câmî Ahmed Efendi tells of the poet's judgeship of Amasya and his family.

Bibliography

Online sources