Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Âfet-i devrân ruhundur 'ârız-ı dil-cûyun âb
Sen bu yüzden mâh-rûlar içre oldun âftâb
Hattun ol âfet durur kim âftâb üstindedür
Zülfün altında 'ızârundur sehâb altında âb

In English

1. Your cheek is the calamity of the age, your heart-pleasing face is lustre; for this reason, with this face, you became the sun among the moon-faced.

2. Your down is that calamity which stands above the sun; under your locks your cheek is like water under a cloud.

Literary and Historical Commentary

These two couplets rest on a letter puzzle, and their full subtlety appears only when they are considered together with the old script. The word "âftâb", sun, when written in Arabic letters, is made of the words "âfet" (calamity) and "âb" (water) placed side by side. In the matla the poet calls the beloved's cheek "âfet" and the lustre of her face "âb" and announces the result: when these two are joined you become "âftâb", the sun, among the moon-faced. The phrase "bu yüzden" also has two senses: "for this reason" and "with this face".

The second couplet continues the puzzle. The beloved's down is an "âfet" and stands above the "âftâb"; in writing, the âfet part does indeed stand before, above, the âb part. In the second line the cheek under the locks is likened to water under a cloud: the locks are a dark cloud, the cheek the water shining beneath it. This reading is an interpretation drawn from the structure of the words; Kınalızâde offers no such explanation and gives the couplets simply as from the poet's "speech".

The rhyme is the sound -âb in âb, âftâb and sehâb; the word "âb" is repeated at the end of both the matla and the second couplet and closes the piece like a ring.

Bibliography

Online sources