Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Gözüm ol yâr içün pür-nem degülsüñ
Çıḳ ortadan ki gözüm nem degülsüñ
Raḳîb-i dîve niçün maḥrem olduñ
Ḳo yâḫı ey perî âdem degülsüñ
Saña itüm didi çünki o dildâr
Eyit göñlüm niçün ḫurrem degülsüñ

In English

1. O my eye, you are not filled with tears for that beloved; get out of the way, what are you to me? (The couplet can be read in two ways; for the second reading see the commentary below.)

2. O fairy, why have you become intimate with the demon-like rival? Let it be, then; you are not human either.

3. Since that heart-ravisher called you "my dog", tell me, O my heart, why are you not joyful?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

These three couplets, which Latîfî gives under the heading "şiʿr", are a fragment of a ghazal (gazel); the first couplet is the matla, while the couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) is not included in the quotation. The redif (refrain word) is "degülsüñ" (you are not), and the rhyme is the sound "-em" in the words "pür-nem, nem, âdem, ḫurrem". The whole ghazal is unknown; the fragment is found only in Latîfî, and neither Kınalızâde nor Hüsameddin quotes this poem. The edition of the biographical anthology of poets (tezkire) does not indicate the metre. To whom and when it was written is unknown.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal has a manner of speech in which the lover addresses his own eye and heart, moving between reproach and jest. Each couplet turns to a different addressee: the eye in the first, the beloved in the second, the heart in the third. In the matla two instances of "nem" rhyme with each other. The first, in the compound "pür-nem", means tears, wetness. We have read the second as the Old Anatolian Turkish word "nem" (what am I to you, what of mine): an eye that does not weep for the beloved is nothing of the lover's and should get out of the way. The same line can also be read by taking "nem" again in the sense of moisture: "O my eye, you are not tears." Since rhyming the same word with the same meaning was considered a fault, the first reading seems the stronger; the identity of sound between the two instances of "nem" is the real point of the couplet. This reading and observation are ours.

In the second couplet the rival is called a "dîv", a demon, and the beloved a "perî", a fairy. In divan poetry the rival is usually an ugly, coarse demon, and the beloved a fairy of superhuman beauty. The poet works this image (mazmun) the other way round: fairy and demon are counted as being of the same kind, neither of them is human; so one should not be surprised that the beloved shows favour to the rival. A congruence of images (tenasüp) is built between the words dîv, perî and âdem. The phrase "âdem degülsüñ" also evokes the reproach "you know nothing of humanity". In the third couplet the beloved's calling the lover "my dog" counts not as an insult but as a compliment. In divan poetry the dog that waits at the beloved's door is a creature the lover envies; to be counted as the beloved's dog means to be admitted to the threshold. That is why the poet asks his heart why it is not glad after hearing these words.

Historical Context

Latîfî gives this ghazal after praising the poet's calligraphy at length, with the words "Bu şiʿri kem degüldür", this poem of his is not bad. Considering that the writer generally found Cenânî's poetry dull in imagination, the sentence amounts to a limited appreciation. For the poet's life and the other judgements of the tezkire writers on him, see the article Cenânî Hüseyin Çelebi.

Bibliography

Online sources