Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Hicr-i ḥüsnüñ çekmek ‘uşşāḳa belī raḥmetlidir
Noḳṭa-i ḫāl olduġı-y-çün āh pek zaḥmetlidir
Ol gözi ḳattālde ġamze ile müjgān siyāh
Bir ḳılıçdır kim ucı mercān-ıla zīnetlidir
Zülfi peyveste degildir la‘li üzre ḫāline
Mār degmez elbet ol hindūya kim şerbetlidir
Berd-i cevrini ḳo serd itsün bize ol māh-rū
Bir vefāsı olur elbet ḳış ayı raḥmetlidir
Vāżıḥā Allāhu ekber var mı ḥayyāle’ṣ-ṣalā
Ol mü’eẕẕin şūḫ-ı a‘lādır ḳad ḳāmetlidir

In English

1. To bear separation from your beauty is, yes, a mercy (a meritorious deed) for lovers; but alas, because the dot of the mole has been set (upon that word), it is very troublesome.

2. In that murderous eye, the glance and the black lash are a sword whose tip is adorned with coral.

3. His lock does not touch the mole above his lip; surely the snake does not harm that Indian (the black mole), for he is immune to venom.

4. Let that moon-faced one turn the cold of his cruelty colder upon us; surely he will have some faithfulness too, for the winter month brings mercy (rain and plenty).

5. O Vâzıh, "Allāhu akbar"; is there a call of "hayya ʿala's-salāh" (come to prayer)? That muezzin is the loftiest of playful beauties, one with "qad qāmat" (one who calls the iqāma, and one of tall stature).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This five-couplet ghazal is written in the remel pattern "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is the suffix "-lidir"; the rhyme is the "-et" of "raḥmet, zaḥmet, zīnet, şerbet, raḥmet, ḳāmet". The rhyme "raḥmetlidir" is repeated in the first and fourth couplets in two different senses: in the first, merit and mercy; in the second, rain, in its colloquial sense. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. To whom it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first couplet contains a conceit that depends on the Arabic script. When a dot is placed over the first letter of "raḥmet" (رحمت, mercy), the word becomes "zaḥmet" (زحمت, trouble). The poet says that bearing separation from the beloved is a mercy, but because the dot of the mole has been set upon this word, mercy turns into trouble. This explanation is our own reading; the phrase "noḳṭa-i ḫāl" (the dot of the mole) in the line supports it. In the second couplet the lash is likened to a sword whose tip is reddened with blood, that is, "adorned with coral"; the same line occurs with a small change in the twenty-third ghazal.

The third couplet draws on a popular belief. Among the people some persons are believed to be "şerbetli", that is, protected against snake venom. In divan poetry the lock is likened to a snake and the black mole to an Indian; the poet explains why the lock does not touch the mole by the mole's being "şerbetli". Babaarslan notes that Vâzıh gives room to popular beliefs in his ghazals. The fourth couplet links the cold of cruelty with the "mercy" of the winter month. The last couplet is built on the words of the call to prayer and the iqāma: "Allāhu akbar", "ḥayye ale's-salā" and "ḳad ḳāmet". "Ḳad ḳāmeti's-salāh" is a phrase of the iqāma; since "ḳad" means stature in Turkish and "ḳāmet" also means stature, the beloved is imagined both as a muezzin who calls the iqāma and as a tall beauty.

Bibliography

Online sources