Original Persian Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün / fā‘ilātün / fā‘ilātün / fā‘ilün

Bezm-tāb ez-ḫancer-i cānān īnīz be’gẕered
Her çi bād-ā-bād mekon tersān īnīz be’gẕered
Ḫāme-i ebrūş ber-pīşān çün ber-levḥ-i sīm
Saṭr-ı zībā’st bā-ḥaṭ-ı reyḥān īnīz be’gẕered
Sāḳī-i bed-mest-i eyyām mey dehed ki ḫancerī
Ġam meḫor ez-gerdiş-i devrān īnīz be’gẕered
Rūzgār-ı ḥüsn-i tū maġrūr nemīsāzed turā
Tū be-dānī ey şeh-i ḫūbān īnīz be’gẕered
Ez-hücūm-ı seyl-i endūh [u] ġam-ı dünyā menāl
Ṣabr kon ey Vāẕıḥ-ı giryān īnīz be’gẕered

In English

1. Endure the pain that comes from the beloved's dagger, this too shall pass; whatever will be, will be, do not be afraid, this too shall pass. (The first word "bezm-tāb" is read thus in the edition; its meaning is uncertain, and the rendering is ours.)

2. The pen-stroke of his eyebrow upon his brow, as on a silver tablet, is a lovely line written in reyhânî script; this too shall pass. ("Ḫaṭṭ-ı reyḥān" means both the reyhânî script and the down that sprouts like sweet basil.)

3. The drunken, ill-tempered cupbearer of the days gives wine, (or) a dagger; do not grieve at the turning of time, this too shall pass. (The first half of the line can be read in two ways: the cupbearer offers a dagger instead of wine, or his wine is itself like a dagger.)

4. It does not become the season of your beauty to make you proud; you know it, O king of the fair, this too shall pass.

5. Do not moan at the onslaught of the flood of the world's sorrow and grief; be patient, O weeping Vâzıh, this too shall pass.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The thirteenth ghazal of the Dîvânçe is in Persian; Babaarslan and Özçakmak both point this out. The edition gives only a Latin-letter reading of the Persian text, without a translation; the rendering above is therefore ours, and the uncertain places have been marked. The five-couplet ghazal is written in the remel pattern "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "īnīz be'gẕered", read in Persian "in nîz bogzered", which means "this too shall pass". The rhyme is the "-ān" of "cānān, tersān, reyḥān, devrān, ḫūbān, giryān". The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet in the spelling "Vāẕıḥ".

Meaning and Figures of Speech

All the couplets of the ghazal are tied to the same counsel: pain, beauty and the grief of the world are all passing. "This too shall pass" is used in Persian much like a proverb, and by making it the redif Vâzıh closes each couplet with this counsel. The phrase "her çi bād ā bād" (whatever will be, will be) in the first couplet passed into Turkish as "bâdâbâd". The second couplet is a comparison drawn from calligraphy: the brow is a silver tablet and the eyebrow a lovely line written on it. The phrase "ḫaṭṭ-ı reyḥān" is a double entendre (tevriye); it means both the script called reyhânî and the down that sprouts on the cheek like sweet basil. Since beauty was thought to fade once the down appeared, the redif "this too shall pass" gains a particular sense in this couplet.

In the third couplet the days are likened to a drunken, ill-tempered cupbearer who offers now wine, now a dagger. The fourth couplet addresses the beauty and reminds him that the span of beauty is not worth his pride. In the last couplet the poet turns to himself, "weeping Vâzıh", and counsels patience. Babaarslan notes that Vâzıh knew Persian well enough to write works in it, and that he also composed a verse work for the teaching of Persian. This ghazal is the only example among the ghazals of the Dîvânçe of the poet using Persian as the language of a poem.

Bibliography

Academic studies

  • Giyasi Babaarslan, "Amasyalı Vâzıh ve Dîvânçesi", Akademik Dil ve Edebiyat Dergisi, 5(4), 2021, pp. 1922-1984 (text of the poem: p. 1938; Mustafa Vâzıh, Dîvânçe, Ankara University, Department of Manuscripts, Mustafa Con A 495/III, fol. 61a). https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/akaded/article/993264
  • Giyasi Babaarslan, "Amasyalı Vâzıh ve Dîvânçesi", Akademik Dil ve Edebiyat Dergisi, 5(4), 2021, pp. 1924-1930 (life and description of the Dîvânçe). https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/akaded/article/993264
  • Fatma Özçakmak, "Mustafa Vâzıh Efendi ve Dîvânçe'si", Kesit Akademi Dergisi, 7(26), 2021, pp. 255-278, p. 273.

Online sources