Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâîlün mefâîlün mefâîlün mefâîlün (identification of the metre is ours)

Aceb ol şûh-ı mümtâzım visâle kâil olmaz mı
Sürer ol geşti-i nâzım kenâre mâil olmaz mı
Sana bir arz-ı hâl etsem şehâ lütfun hayâl etsem
Temennâyî visâl etsem adüvvler hâil olmaz mı
Geçer mi mübtelâsından o mihr ü âşinâsından
Dönüp ahde vefâsından sözüyle âmil olmaz mı
Heman olduysa senden dûr degil mi sevdigim ma'zûr
Meger bu Hıfzi-i mehcûr merâma nâil olmaz mı

In English

1. I wonder, will that choice and coquettish beloved of mine not consent to union; will that coy one not steer the ship of coquetry and come to some shore? (The text has "geşti"; it has been read as "keştî", ship. If it is read as Persian "geşt", a stroll, the line means "will that beloved, taking a coquettish stroll, not turn toward the shore".)

2. O my king, if I were to present you a petition of my state, to dream of your favour, to wish for union, would the enemies (the rivals) not come between us?

3. Would she give up the one smitten with her, that love and that friendship; would she not turn back to keeping faith with her vow and fulfil her word? (The second line can also be read as "turning away from keeping faith with her vow"; the question then reproaches the beloved for breaking her word.)

4. My beloved, if he has fallen far from you, is he not to be excused? Or will this Hıfzî, abandoned in separation, never attain his wish?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Each of the ghazal's eight lines ends with the question "olmaz mı", will it not be; the poem is a string of questions from beginning to end. A redif (refrain word) that is a question form creates a voice in which the lover can state nothing outright and puts every wish as a possibility. The words "kâil, mâil, hâil, âmil, nâil" rhyme on "-il". Hüsameddin gives the text as eight lines without dividing it into couplets; the couplet order is shown here.

The lines also rhyme within themselves. In the second couplet "arz-ı hâl etsem, lütfun hayâl etsem, visâl etsem", in the third "mübtelâsından, âşinâsından, vefâsından", in the fourth "dûr, ma'zûr, mehcûr" divide the lines into equal parts; even in the opening couplet "mümtâzım" and "nâzım" call to each other. A ghazal with such internal rhymes is called a musammat ghazal, and the hezec pattern of four "mefâîlün" feet suits this play, because it makes each half line a separate metrical unit.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the first couplet the beloved is "şûh-ı mümtâz", a choice and coquettish beauty, and in the second a king, addressed as "şehâ". A court relationship is set up between lover and beloved: the lover is one who presents an "arz-ı hâl", a petition, to the king, and "adüvvler", enemies, come between them. That a poet who spent his life as a judge in the courts should address the beloved like a petitioner brings his profession and his poetry close together; the source does not draw this connection, it is a reading drawn from the text. In the closing couplet the pen name takes the form "Hıfzî-i mehcûr": Hıfzî abandoned in separation. All the questions of the ghazal lead to this final one.

Historical Context

The survival of the ghazal depends on a chance. Hüsameddin saw it in the tezkire, the collection of poets' lives, compiled by the Amasya professor Abdî Efendi, copied it onto a leaf and placed it on the page where he wrote Hıfzî's biography, and in his own words the ghazal thus "escaped the fire". Abdî Efendi's tezkire is lost; what remains of it is in the article Abdî Efendi: The Lost Tezkire of Amasya's Poets and Its Poems. When the ghazal was written is unknown. Hıfzî's judgeships and the family descended from him are described in the article Hıfzî Abdurrahman Efendi.

Bibliography

Online sources