Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ḳaddiñ gibi derd [ü] elemim dilde uzundur
Ḫaddiñ gibi cān u ciger ālūde-i ḫūndur
Sen ṭıfl-ı nev-āmūḫte-i şīve vü şengiñ
Dil derd ü ġam-ı hicr ü belāsıyla zebūndur
Çeşm-i siyeh-i mestleriñ sūre-i Kāfir
Müjgān-ı siyāhān daḫi tefsīr-i ‘uyūndur
Çeşm-i siyeh-i mest-i mey-i naḫvet-i nāzıñ
‘Uşşāḳıña billāh hemān ‘ayn-ı cünūndur
Sa‘y eylese tanẓīre Ḥafīd n’ola bu şi‘ri
Vāżıḥ yine ol cān hele ḫaylīce ṭorundur

In English

1. Like your stature, the pain and grief in my heart are long; like your cheek, my soul and liver are steeped in blood.

2. You are a child newly schooled in coquetry and playfulness; the heart has grown weak with the pain, grief and calamity of separation.

3. Your black, drunken eyes are the sura Kâfirûn; and your black lashes are the commentary on the eyes.

4. Your black eye, drunk with the wine of the pride of coquetry, is, by God, madness itself for your lovers.

5. No wonder if Hafîd should strive to write a response poem to this verse; Vâzıh, that dear soul is quite a grandson after all. ("Hafîd" means grandson in Arabic; the couplet plays on this name and the Turkish word "torun", grandson.)

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". The redif (refrain word) is the suffix "-dur/-dür" (is); the rhyme is the "-un/-ūn" of "uzun, ḫūn, zebūn, ‘uyūn, cünūn, ṭorun". The conjunction "[ü]" in the first couplet has been supplied in square brackets in the edition. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet together with the name of another poet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first couplet sets two comparisons side by side: the pain is long like the beloved's stature, and soul and liver are red like his cheek. In the second couplet the beloved is again called a "newly schooled child"; this image also occurs in the ninth ghazal. The third couplet repeats the comparison of the second ghazal with "Kāfirūn" and "tefsīr-i ‘uyūn": the cruel eyes are the sura Kâfirûn and the lashes their commentary. In the phrase "‘ayn-ı cünūn" in the fourth couplet, "‘ayn" means both "eye" and "the thing itself"; the drunken eye is madness itself.

Historical Context

The last couplet suggests that the ghazal arose from an exchange between poets. Vâzıh says that one should not wonder if someone called "Ḥafīd" strives to write a response poem (nazire) to this verse, and plays on this name, which means grandson in Arabic, with the Turkish word "torun" (grandson). The fourth ghazal of the Dîvânçe is a joint ghazal composed together with "the grandson of Âkif el-Amâsî, inspector of the Haremeyn". According to Hüsameddin, Âkifzâde Abdürrahîm Efendi, grandson of Îdîzâde Âkif Mustafa Efendi, became inspector of the Haremeyn in 1226 (1811) and died in 1231 (1816). Hüsameddin also names the same man as Vâzıh's "master" (üstâd), who replaced him as mufti of Amasya in 1214 (1799). That the Hafîd here is the same person and points to Abdürrahîm Efendi is our own inference. If this is correct, the words "quite a grandson" can be understood in two ways: either as praise, saying that as the grandson of a famous poet he inherited his gift from his grandfather, or as a joke aimed by the pupil at his teacher.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources