Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün

Nâr-ı sevdâ şiddet-efzâ-yı melâl olmuş sana
Câm-ı meyden neş’e-yâb olmak muhâl olmuş sana
Bir zamândır tavr-ı mahzûnâne göstermektesin
Ey ciger-pârem aceb bilmem ne hâl olmuş sana
Leyl-i zülfün âlemi zindâna döndürmüş senin
Yüzlerin bir âftâb-ı bî-zevâl olmuş sana
Şi’ri rengînim gibi bir nev-edâ var sende kim
Acz-i erbâb-ı fuhûl ancak meâl olmuş sana
Bağ-ı hüsnünde seyrederken şevk ile bülbül gibi
Merdüm-i dîdem kalup rûyunda hâl olmuş sana
Hıfzîyâ durma sühan-perdâz ol câm aşkına
Fıtratın sâkî-i feyz-i Lâ-yezâl olmuş sana

In English

1. The fire of passion has become something that only increases your sorrow; finding joy in the wine cup has become impossible for you.

2. For some time now you have shown a sorrowful manner. O piece of my liver (my darling), I wonder what has happened to you; I do not know.

3. The night of your hair has turned the world into a dungeon; while your face has become for you a sun that never sets.

4. There is in you a new grace, like my colourful poetry, such that the helplessness of even the great masters has become the only conclusion about you. The couplet can be read in two ways: if "meâl" is taken as outcome, the masters' words run out before you; if it is taken as interpretation, their helplessness becomes the only commentary that describes you.

5. While I strolled eagerly like a nightingale in the garden of your beauty, the pupil of my eye stayed upon your face and became a beauty spot for you.

6. O Hıfzî, do not stop; compose words for the love of the cup. Your nature has become for you a cupbearer (sâkî) pouring the grace of the Everlasting God.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal of six couplets; the pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet in the form "Hıfzîyâ", the poet addressing himself. The redif (refrain word) is "olmuş sana" ("has become for you"), and the rhyme is the sound "-âl" in the words "melâl, muhâl, hâl, bî-zevâl, meâl, hâl, Lâ-yezâl". It is notable that the word "hâl" serves as a rhyme a second time in the fifth couplet: in the second couplet "hâl" means state, while in the fifth it is used in the sense of a beauty spot on the face. This is a punning rhyme (cinas) made with words of the same sound but different meaning. The metre fits the pattern "fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün"; the source does not state the metre, and the identification is ours. İsmail Hakkı Aksoyak quotes the ghazal in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü from page 85 of Orhan Bilgin's 1992 edition.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first two couplets of the ghazal reverse a familiar situation. In divan poetry it is usually the lover who is sorrowful; here it is the beloved, and the poet asks what has happened, calling her "ciger-pârem", piece of my liver. "Nâr-ı sevdâ" in the first couplet can be understood both as the fire of love and as black bile, melancholy; in old medicine sevda is the black bile that brings grief. The third couplet is built on the contrast of night and sun: the beloved's black hair turns the world into a dungeon, while her face is a sun that never sets. Likening hair to night and the face to the sun is among the most established images (mazmun) of divan poetry.

In the fourth couplet the poet compares the beloved's beauty with his own poetry and says that even "erbâb-ı fuhûl", the great masters, fall helpless in describing her. This is praise directed both at the beloved and at the poet's own verse. The image in the fifth couplet is the liveliest invention of the ghazal: the pupil of the lover's eye, as he strolls like a nightingale in the garden of beauty, stays on the beloved's face and becomes a beauty spot there. This likeness between the blackness of the pupil and the blackness of the mole is supported by the two meanings of the word "hâl". In the last couplet the poet addresses himself; the images of the cup and the cupbearer open onto a Sufi meaning, and the power of composing poetry is counted a gift of God's unending grace.

Historical Context

To whom and on what occasion the ghazal was written is not known. According to Aksoyak's entry, Hıfzî was born in Merzifon in 1851, went on long journeys with his father in his youth, received the title "Gazi" for the heroism he showed in the War of 93 and died in 1892. All of the poet's poems were published in Bilgin's book together with the divan of Eyüb Sabrî of Merzifon; this ghazal is the only one of those poems that can be read online today. The self-confidence of the fourth couplet and the call to compose verse in the last suggest that the poet saw himself as a divan poet. For the poet's life see the article Hıfzî.

Bibliography

  • Orhan Bilgin, Merzifon'lu İki Şair (Eyüb Sabrî-Hıfzî), Istanbul: Enderun Kitabevi, 1992, p. 85 (as cited by Aksoyak 2014).
  • İsmail Hakkı Aksoyak, "Hıfzî", Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü, 13.03.2014 (updated 02.12.2020). https://teis.yesevi.edu.tr/madde-detay/hifzi

Online sources