Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü / fā‘ilātü / mefā‘īlü / fā‘ilün

Ruḫsārı tābı zülf-i siyehle olur ziyād
Zīrā ki didiler ẓaharu’n-nūri bi’s-sevād
Ḫaṭṭı gelürse la‘l-i lebi üzre n’ola kim
Eks̱er şarāb-ı nāb üzerinde olur fesād
Gūyā ki ġamze fetḥ-i şerīfli ḳılıcıdır
Cūyān-ı ‘arbede olıcaḳ çeşm-i ḫūn-nijād
Kaşı ucında beñ yazılurken nūr-āyinī
Düşmüş derūn-ı ḫāmeden ol ḳaṭre-i midād
Rūyında ḫāle baḳdı müneccim didi baña
Vāżıḥ bu ayda var yine bir āfet-i şidād

In English

1. The radiance of his cheek grows with the black lock; for they have said, "Light is made manifest by darkness."

2. No wonder if the down appears above his ruby lip; spoilage most often forms on the surface of pure wine.

3. When the eye born to shed blood seeks a fight, the glance is like a sword inscribed with the verse of Victory.

4. The mole at the tip of his eyebrow is a drop of ink that fell from inside the pen while that eyebrow, shining like light, was being written.

5. The astrologer looked at the mole on his face and said to me: "Vâzıh, in this moon (both this month and this moon-like face) there is once again a severe calamity."

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This five-couplet ghazal is written in the muzari pattern "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün". There is no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the "-ād" of "ziyād, sevād, fesād, nijād, midād, şidād". Babaarslan notes that the word "yine" in the last couplet is written "yine yine" in the manuscript; since the repeated word does not fit the metre, the edition gives it once. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. To whom it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In each couplet the ghazal explains an element of beauty with a proof or a comparison. In the first couplet the increase of the cheek's brightness through the black lock is grounded in the Arabic saying "ẓaharu'n-nūru bi's-sevād" (light is made manifest by darkness), a form of the idea that things are known through their opposites. In the second couplet the down growing above the lip is likened to the spoilage that forms on the surface of pure wine. Since the lip is likened to wine, the down is imagined as the spoilage on the wine's surface. In the third couplet the glance, ready to shed blood, is likened to a sword bearing a verse from the sura of Victory (al-Fath).

The fourth couplet is an image taken from the art of calligraphy. The eyebrow has been drawn with a pen like a line of script; while it was being drawn a drop of ink fell from inside the pen, and this drop became the mole at the tip of the eyebrow. The last couplet closes in the language of astrology: the astrologer looks at the mole on the face and says that there is a calamity "in this moon". The word "ay" is a double entendre (tevriye) meaning both the calendar month and the beloved's moon-like face; the black mole on the face is read as an ill omen, like an eclipse on the moon. This chain built on proofs suits Vâzıh's identity as a madrasa teacher.

Bibliography

Online sources