Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Subh-ı vasl irdi kanı câm-ı sabûh
Sun berü sâkî ki oldur kût-ı rûh
Dil lebünden bûse cerr itse ne tan
Dil-durur miftâh-ı ebvâb-ı fütûh
Mısr-ı hüsnün Yûsuf’ısın lîkin âh
Sabr-ı Eyyûb andurursın ömr-i Nûh
Tevbe arz eyler bize zâhid müdâm
Gül deminde tevbe m’olur yâ nasûh
Gün bigi Sâfî gönül âyînesin
Rûşen ider pertev-i câm-ı sabûh

In English

1. The morning of union has come; where is the cup of morning wine? Cupbearer, hand it here, for it is the food of the soul. ("Sabûh" is wine drunk in the morning.)

2. Is it any wonder if the heart begs a kiss from your lips and wins it? The tongue is the key to the gates of opening. ("Dil" means heart in Persian and tongue in Turkish; the couplet can be read with both senses. "Cerr" is collecting by begging, and "fütûh" means both the opening of gates and gifts that come unasked.)

3. You are the Joseph of the Egypt of beauty; but alas, you remind one of the patience of Job and the lifespan of Noah. (Waiting for you requires the patience of the prophet Job and the long life of the prophet Noah.)

4. The ascetic keeps urging repentance upon us; is there repentance in the season of the rose, let alone a sincere and final one? ("Tevbe-i nasûh" is a sincere repentance made never to be broken.)

5. Sâfî, the light of the morning cup makes the mirror of the heart shine like the sun.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This ghazal (gazel) of five couplets is written in a short pattern of the remel family of aruz (quantitative metre), "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". There is no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the sound "-ûḥ": ṣabûḥ, rûḥ, fütûḥ, Nûḥ, naṣûḥ. The choice of these words of Arabic origin, all ending in the same sound, as rhymes gives the ghazal, together with its short measure, a dense and resonant sound. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. The text is the one quoted from Ahmet Sevgi and Hakan Sevindik's edition of the divan of Cezerî Kasım Paşa (p. 129) in İsmail E. Erünsal's entry in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü (Dictionary of Names in Turkish Literature). To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens with a morning scene. "Ṣubḥ-ı vaṣl", the morning of union, has come, and the poet asks the cupbearer for "sabûh". Sabûh, meaning wine drunk in the morning, is mentioned in divan poetry as a pleasure custom of its own. The poet calls it "kût-ı rûh", the food of the soul. When union, morning and wine come together, the cheerful mood of the ghazal is established in the first couplet.

The second couplet carries the densest wordplay of the ghazal. The word "dil" means heart in Persian and tongue in Turkish; the poet puts both senses to work in the same couplet. If the heart "cerr"s, begs and wins, a kiss from the beloved's lips, no one should be surprised, for the tongue is the key to the gates of opening. "Cerr" was the name for the old custom of madrasa students going from village to village collecting support; "fütûh" is used both for the opening of gates and for gifts that come to dervishes unasked. The connection between these words forms the congruence of images (tenasüp) of the couplet, and the relation between begging and gift lends a playful tone to the wish for a kiss.

The third couplet alludes to three prophets. The beloved is the Joseph of the land of beauty; in divan poetry the prophet Joseph is the model of beauty and is mentioned together with Egypt. But this beauty reminds the lover of two other prophets: Job, known for his patience in sickness and affliction, and Noah, who is related to have lived a very long time. To be united with the beloved one needs the patience of Job and the lifespan of Noah. Bringing three prophets' names together in a couplet in this way is a fine example of allusion (telmih).

In the fourth couplet the familiar ascetic (zâhid) of divan poetry appears. The ascetic, the dry pietist, constantly calls lovers to repentance. The poet asks him whether repentance is possible in the season of the rose, in spring, and alludes to the term "tevbe-i nasûh", the sincere and final repentance mentioned in the Qur'an. The old association between spring and wine is used in this couplet as a defence against the ascetic. In the last couplet the pen name becomes part of a play on meaning. "Sâfî" means pure, clean, clear; a mirror shines only when it is pure and clear. The light of the morning cup illuminates the mirror of the heart like the sun; thus the ghazal closes by returning to the image of morning and morning wine in the first couplet. The idea in divan poetry that the heart is a mirror which wine polishes is also open to a Sufi reading.

Bibliography

Online sources