Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün / fe‘ilātün / fe‘ilātün / fe‘ilün

Cem‘ oluñ başıma sizler geliñ ey ‘ayyāşlar
Gidelim mey-kedeye ayıḳ ayıḳ yoldaşlar
Ḳatı sengīn-dil oldı o cefākār güzel
Ben ġarībini hemān gördügi yirde ṭaşlar
Dil-i Ya‘ḳūb cüdā düşdi o Yūsuf-rūdan
N’idelim n’işleyelim böyle biz ey ḳardaşlar
Bu serim saña fedā ola disem ḳanḳı zamān
Şīve vü nāzı füzūn eylemege ol başlar
Vāżıḥā ḳorḳmayalım arıḳamız (?) miḥrābda
Ne ḳadar vaṣfın idersek yiridir ol ḳaşlar

In English

1. Gather round me, come, O drunkards; let us go to the tavern stone-sober, O companions.

2. That cruel beauty has grown very stony-hearted; wherever he sees poor me, he stones me at once.

3. The heart of Jacob has been parted from that Joseph-faced one; what are we to do, how shall we act, O brothers?

4. Whenever I say "Let this head of mine be your sacrifice", he begins at once to increase his coquetry and airs.

5. O Vâzıh, let us not be afraid in the prayer niche; however much we praise those eyebrows, it is fitting. (The reading of the word "arıḳamız" is given with a question mark in the edition; since its meaning remains unclear, it has been left out of the rendering.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This five-couplet ghazal is written in the remel pattern "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün". The rhyme is the "-aş" of "‘ayyāş, yoldaş, ṭaş, ḳardaş, baş, ḳaş", and the redif (refrain word) is the suffix "-lar". The interesting point of the redif is that the same "-lar" sound is a plural suffix in some couplets (ayyaşlar, yoldaşlar, kardaşlar, kaşlar) and a verbal ending in others: "ṭaşlar" (he stones) and "başlar" (he begins). The word "arıḳamız" in the last couplet is given with a question mark in the edition; its reading is not certain. To whom it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens with a summons: the poet wants to gather the drunkards and his companions around him and go with them "stone-sober" to the tavern. Özçakmak gives this couplet as an example of Vâzıh's Nedîmâne manner. In the second couplet the "stony-hearted" beloved "stoning" the poor lover wherever he sees him is built on the use of the word "stone" both as an adjective and as a verb. The third couplet rests on the story of Joseph: Jacob's heart has been parted from Joseph, and the poet calls out "O brothers". If one recalls that in the story it was Joseph's brothers who threw him into the well, this address adds a subtle congruence of images (tenasüp) to the couplet. Özçakmak cites this couplet as an example of popular speech reflected in poetry.

The last couplet uses the familiar comparison between eyebrow and prayer niche. In divan poetry the beloved's arched eyebrow is likened to a mihrab; praising the eyebrow is therefore like standing in the prayer niche, and the poet says that however much it is praised, the praise is fitting. The word in the line whose reading is uncertain leaves the full meaning of the couplet unclear.

Bibliography

Academic studies

  • Giyasi Babaarslan, "Amasyalı Vâzıh ve Dîvânçesi", Akademik Dil ve Edebiyat Dergisi, 5(4), 2021, pp. 1922-1984 (text of the poem: pp. 1938-1939; Mustafa Vâzıh, Dîvânçe, Ankara University, Department of Manuscripts, Mustafa Con A 495/III, fol. 61b). 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, pp. 271-272.

Online sources