Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilātün Fe‘ilün

Mey ile ṭolmaya meclisde çü rindāne ṣafā
Virmez iy sāḳi-i gül-çihre ḳadeḥ cāne ṣafā
Ben müdāmī çekeyin cām-ı belādan cür‘a
Sen mey-i nāz içün ol iy gözi mestāne ṣafā
Ḳo riyā ṣuffesin ol ṣāf ṣaf-ı ‘āşıḳa gel
Ṣūfiyā ṣāfi mey iç ṣāfi virüp cāne ṣafā
Ger tehī ola ġamuñdan dil-i pür-ġam bir dem
Cānda ne ẕerre ḳadar ẕevḳ ola cānā ne ṣafā
Vireyin cāne ṣafā yolına cānum vireyin
Beni öldürmek ile ger gele cānāne ṣafā
Şād olur yāreler açsa müjesi sīnemde
Ki fütūḥ olsa gelür ḫāṭır-ı sulṭāne ṣafā
Fażliyā çün [dem] urur lâ‘l-i leb-i sāḳīden
Yāda virürse n’ola ḫāṭır-ı yārāne ṣafā

In English

1. O rose-faced cupbearer, unless the gathering is filled with wine in the profligate's manner, the cup gives no delight to the soul.

2. Let me forever draw a draught from the cup of calamity; O you with drunken eyes, drink the wine of coquetry and take your delight. (The word "müdāmī" suggests both "forever" and "of wine".)

3. O Sufi, leave the bench of hypocrisy, be pure, come to the rank of lovers; drink pure wine, give the soul purity and delight.

4. Should the grief-filled heart be empty of grief for you for a moment, O soul, there would be in the soul neither a mote of pleasure nor delight.

5. If by killing me delight comes to the beloved's heart, let me give delight to the soul, let me give my life on his path.

6. I rejoice if his lashes open wounds in my breast; for when conquests are made, delight comes to the sultan's heart.

7. O Fazlî, since (your poetry) speaks of the cupbearer's ruby lip, is it any wonder if, when it is recalled, it gives delight to the hearts of friends? (The reading of the second line is not certain.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of seven couplets, written in the "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün" pattern of the remel family of aruz (quantitative metre). The redif (refrain word) is "ṣafā" (delight); the rhyme is formed by the sound "-āne" in the words "rindāne, cāne, mestāne, cānā ne, cānāne, sulṭāne, yārāne". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet; the word "[dem]" in this couplet is one Özkat added for the metre. The ghazal is the fifteenth in Özkat's edition and is found only in the Fazlî divan section (fol. 219b) of the miscellany in the Hazine collection of the Topkapı Palace Museum Library. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

From beginning to end the ghazal turns on the various senses of the word "ṣafā" in the redif: joy, ease of heart, purity and clarity. Each couplet says who finds delight in what: the cup in wine, the beloved in the wine of coquetry, the Sufi in pure wine, the beloved in the lover's death, the sultan in conquest, and the friends in poetry.

The third couplet is the example Özkat chose for the figure of common derivation (iştikak), and it is the most striking place in the ghazal. The words "ṣuffe" (bench, raised platform), "ṣāf" (pure, clean), "ṣaf" (rank), "ṣūfī", "ṣāfī" (pure) and "ṣafā" form a series built from the same sounds. The poet calls the Sufi to leave the "bench of hypocrisy" and join the rank of lovers; the Sufi's true delight is in pure wine.

Özkat says that Fazlî makes room in his ghazals for punning utterances at the ends of lines, and gives the fourth and fifth couplets as examples of punning rhyme: "cānā ne" (O soul, what) in the fourth couplet and "cānāne" (to the beloved) in the fifth are built from the same sounds. The fifth couplet also uses the idiom "can vermek" (to give one's life); Özkat mentions this couplet in his list of idioms as well. The words "cāne ṣafā vireyin" (let me give delight to the soul) and "cānum vireyin" (let me give my life) echo each other and form a repetition (tekrir).

The sixth couplet may be counted an instance of hüsn-i talil (fanciful aetiology). The lashes' opening wounds in the breast is a conquest; since conquests gladden the sultan's heart, the lover rejoices the more he is wounded. The word "fütūḥ" stands for both conquest and opening, and forms a double entendre (tevriye) with the "opening" of wounds. The word "müdāmī" in the second couplet likewise evokes, beside the sense "forever", "müdām", a name for wine.

Bibliography

  • Mustafa Özkat, Kara Fazlî'nin Hayatı, Eserleri, Edebî Kişiliği ve Dîvânı (İnceleme-Tenkitli Metin), MA thesis, Marmara University Institute of Turkic Studies, Istanbul 2005, pp. 292-293, ghazal no. 15 (Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Hazine, fol. 219b); also pp. 45 and 83 (iştikak), p. 72 (punning rhyme), p. 91 (idioms) and pp. 119-120 (description of the manuscripts), https://katalog.marmara.edu.tr/veriler/yordambt/cokluortam/5E/T0051713.pdf.

Online sources