Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün

Boyuñ bir serv-i ra‘nādur güli var
Semen üzre perīşān sünbüli var
Ne nāzüḳdür cemālüñ gülşeni kim
Gül-i ter üzre miskīn kāküli var
İnanma zülfinüñ ‘ahdine Ṣāfī
Kim anuñ bir başı vü biñ dili var

In English

1. Your stature is a graceful cypress, yet this cypress has a rose; it has hyacinth scattered over jasmine. (The cypress bears no roses; the beloved's stature is likened to a cypress, the cheek to a rose, the white skin to jasmine, the hair to hyacinth.)

2. How delicate is the rose garden of your beauty, where on the fresh rose lies your wretched lock. (Some manuscripts read "müşkîn", musk-scented, instead of "miskîn", wretched.)

3. Sâfî, do not trust the promise of her locks; for they have one head and a thousand tongues. (The locks spring from one place and spread into a thousand strands; "dil" here means both a strand or curl of hair and the tongue that speaks.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

These three couplets are given in the entry on Kasım Paşa in the Heşt-Bihişt of the biographer Sehî Bey, with the note "Ve bu birḳaç beyt anuñ eş‘ārındandur" (these few couplets are among his poems). Since the first couplet is an opening couplet (matla) with both lines rhyming and the last a closing couplet (makta) with the pen name, the three couplets were chosen from the beginning, middle and end of a ghazal; the full ghazal is not known. The metre is from the hezec family of aruz (quantitative metre), "mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün". The redif (refrain word) is "-i var" and the rhyme is the sound "-ül": sünbüli, kâküli, dili. In the edition of Sehî the word "miskīn" in the second couplet appears as "müşkīn" in some manuscripts. To whom and when the poem was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet brings together familiar comparisons of divan poetry, but adds a small surprise. The beloved's stature is likened to a cypress; the cypress is tall and straight but bears no roses. By saying that the beloved's cypress-like stature also has a "rose", a rose-coloured cheek, the poet shows her to be superior to the cypress of nature. In the second line the white skin is likened to jasmine and the scattered hair to hyacinth; hyacinth scattered over jasmine is the image of black hair fallen around a white face.

In the second couplet the beloved's beauty is a rose garden, and this garden is very delicate. On the fresh rose, that is, the cheek, lies a lock of hair. Calling the lock "miskîn", wretched, likens the hair fallen on the beloved's face to a beggar fallen at someone's feet. The reading "müşkîn" in some manuscripts describes the hair instead as musk-scented and black; in divan poetry black hair and musk are often named together. The two words are very close in Arabic script, and both suit the couplet.

The closing couplet shows the side of Sâfî that the biographers praise: his skill at bringing proverbs and popular sayings into poetry. The locks spring from one place and spread into a thousand strands; the poet expresses this as "bir başı vü biñ dili var", it has one head and a thousand tongues. The phrase on the one hand describes the look of the hair, and on the other recalls a saying used among the people for those who give their word and do not keep it, who speak differently everywhere. Since the word "dil" is used both for a strand of hair and for the speaking tongue, there is a double entendre (tevriye) in the couplet. The conclusion that one should not trust the "promise" of the locks follows from this: a thing with a thousand tongues does not keep its word.

Historical Context

In the entry in which he gives these couplets, Sehî briefly relates Kasım Paşa's life. According to him Kasım Paşa was the slave of an old woman of Edirne, who brought him up and educated him like a son. While pursuing learning he attached himself to Mahmud Paşa and was trained under his patronage; when Sultan Bayezid was Çelebi Sultan in Amasya he became his treasurer (defterdar), and when Bayezid came to the throne he became vizier. After serving as vizier for some time he was sent to Salonica and died there while governor (sanjak-bey). Sehî counts him "among the esteemed poets of the land of Rûm" and describes his poetry as "ḫoş-ṭab‘ mes̱el-gūy ḫayāl-engīz ve ems̱āl-āmīz", good-natured, proverb-telling, imaginative and mixed with proverbs. These three couplets, especially the saying in the last couplet, are an example that confirms the biographer's judgement.

Bibliography

  • Sehî Beg, Heşt-Bihişt, ed. Günay Kut, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay. (e-book), pp. 31-32, entry on Kâsım Paşa; for the manuscript variant see the footnotes of the same page. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • İsmail E. Erünsal, "Kasım Paşa, Cezerî", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 24, Istanbul 2001, pp. 545-546. islamansiklopedisi.org.tr