Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü / mefā‘īlü / mefā‘īlü / fe‘ūlün

Ḳan eylemege n’ola o beñler ise bā‘is̱
Ḳan içicilikdir heves ü meyl-i berāġıs̱
Ey şūḫ hele bir maḥż-ı ḳıyāmet imişiñ sen
Ḥaḳḳıñda seniñ gerçi çoḳ olduydı ḥavādis̱
Şīrīn-lebi ḳaymaḳ durur ol ṭūṭī-dehānıñ
Aġız degil olmam yemīn itsem daḫi ḥānis̱
Bu ḫastegī-i ḥasret-i meyden ger ölürsem
Ey pīr-i muġān muġ-beçelerdir baña vāris̱
Ṭaş dikdi anıñ ḫiẕmet-i ‘aşḳında bu Vāżıḥ
Ḳabri ṭaşı bī-hūde yere olmadı ḥādis̱

In English

1. No wonder if those moles become the cause of bloodshed; for the desire and inclination of fleas is to drink blood.

2. O playful one, it turns out you are a very doomsday; although much had already happened on your account before.

3. The sweet lip of that parrot-mouthed one is clotted cream; were I to swear "This is no mouth", I would not break my oath.

4. If I die of this sickness of longing for wine, O elder of the tavern, my heirs will be the tavern boys.

5. This Vâzıh set up a stone in the service of his love; his gravestone did not come into being for nothing.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This five-couplet ghazal is written in the hezec pattern "mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün". There is no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the "-is̱" of "bā‘is̱, berāġıs̱, ḥavādis̱, ḥānis̱, vāris̱, ḥādis̱". According to Babaarslan's count by final letters, this is the only ghazal in the Dîvânçe ending in the letter "se" (ث); because few Turkish words end in this letter, the rhymes are made entirely of Arabic words. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. To whom it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first couplet rests on an unusual comparison between moles and fleas. Because black moles are small dark dots, they are likened to fleas; since the business of fleas is drinking blood, one should not wonder that moles shed blood. In divan poetry the mole is usually imagined as an Indian, a grain of musk or a dot; meeting here an insect image taken from daily life is an example of the local, colloquial manner that Babaarslan sees in Vâzıh. In the third couplet the beloved's lip is likened to clotted cream, and a remark is made on the smallness of the mouth: the mouth is so small that even an oath that "this is no mouth" would not be a false oath.

Most of the rhyme words of the ghazal are terms of Islamic law and theology: "ḥānis̱" (one who breaks an oath), "vāris̱" (heir), "ḥādis̱" (that which comes into being in time) and "ḥavādis̱" (events). The pen of a poet who had served as mufti carries the language of his profession into a love ghazal. In the fourth couplet the poet applies the language of inheritance law to the tavern, saying that if he dies his heirs will be the tavern boys. The last couplet says that the gravestone of the poet who dies on the path of love was not set up in vain, and that the stone is a token of this love.

Bibliography

Online sources