Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün / mefā‘īlün / mefā‘īlün / mefā‘īlün

Meh-i tābān-ı eflāk-i nezāket sen misin Ṣāliḥ
Şeh-i ḫūbān-ı āfāḳ-ı melāḥat sen misin Ṣāliḥ
Seḥāb-ı āsumān-ı ḳudret-i Bārī te‘ālādan
Nev-üftād jāle-i verd-i leṭāfet sen misin Ṣāliḥ
‘Aḳ(ı)l sırr-ı ḳad-i serv-i ḫırāmānıñda dermānde
Nihāl-i nev-res-i gülzār-ı ḥayret sen misin Ṣāliḥ
Bu zīnetler bu ṣūretler bu naḫvetler bu hey’etler
Bu ḥāletler nedir ṭāvūs-ı cennet sen misin Ṣāliḥ
Seni bu Vāżıḥ istidlāl eyler ṭoġrusın söyle
Nişān-ı fitne-i rūz-ı ḳıyāmet sen misin Ṣāliḥ

In English

1. Are you the shining moon of the heavens of grace, Sâlih; are you the king of the beauties of the horizons of comeliness, Sâlih?

2. Are you, Sâlih, the newly fallen dewdrop on the rose of delicacy, from the cloud of the sky of the power of God Most High?

3. Reason is helpless before the secret of your swaying cypress stature; are you the young sapling of the rose garden of wonder, Sâlih?

4. What are these adornments, these forms, these airs, these poses, these states; are you the peacock of paradise, Sâlih?

5. This Vâzıh is drawing an inference about you, tell the truth: are you the sign of the turmoil of the Day of Judgement, Sâlih?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal has five couplets in the hezec pattern "mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün". The redif (refrain word) is "sen misin Ṣāliḥ" (are you, Sâlih), which turns every couplet into a question. The rhyme is the "-et" of "nezāket, melāḥat, leṭāfet, ḥayret, cennet, ḳıyāmet". Since both lines of the opening couplet end with the redif, it is repeated six times in the poem. The pen name appears in the last couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Every couplet of the poem is a question addressed to a beauty named Sâlih. The poet asks whether the beloved is the moon, the king of beauties, a dewdrop on a rose, a young sapling or the peacock of paradise. Asking as if he did not know what he knows is the figure called tecâhül-i ârif (feigned ignorance) in divan poetry, and the whole structure of the ghazal is built upon it. The comparisons move from the sky (moon, cloud, dew) to the garden (rose, sapling, cypress) and to paradise (peacock). In the fourth couplet the series "bu zīnetler bu ṣūretler bu naḫvetler bu hey’etler", words lined up with the same ending, gives the line a quick rhythm.

In the last couplet the poet uses a word suited to his identity as professor and mufti: "istidlāl", reasoning from evidence to a conclusion. Vâzıh draws a verdict from all these signs of beauty and declares that the beloved is the sign of the turmoil of the Day of Judgement. That beauty is great enough to bring about doomsday is a familiar theme (mazmun) of divan poetry; joined here with a term of jurisprudence and theology, it takes on a colour from the poet's profession. Placing the beloved's name openly in the redif makes the poem seem written for a particular person. However, no information about who Sâlih was could be found in the Dîvânçe or in other sources. Babaarslan says that Vâzıh's ghazals show a playful manner in the style of Nedîm and traces of the daily life of his time; this ghazal is one example of that playful manner.

Bibliography

Online sources