Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

O şūḫa eyledim ibrāmī-i güşād-ı kemer
Ġażab idince didim ḳuşaġıñı gevşediver
Hep eski vādīlerin terk idüp baş egdiler
Benim bu seyl-i sirişkimi göricek seyller
Didim göñülde ṭutasın bu ‘abd-i nā-çīziñ
Göñülde noḳṭa mı olur didi o ġonçe-i ter
Bilā-zer olmaz o şūḫ-ı cefā-yı sīmīn-ber
Hemān var ise vir çoḳça çoḳça sen aña zer
İki ḳaşı iki gözi ġamı ile anıñ
Görüñ bu Vāżıḥı dört üstine ṣafālar ider

In English

1. I pressed that playful one to open his belt; when he grew angry, I said, "Just loosen your sash a little."

2. All the floods, on seeing this flood of my tears, abandoned their old valleys (both their beds and their ways) and bowed their heads.

3. I said, "May you keep this worthless servant in your heart"; that fresh rosebud said, "Can there be a dot in 'heart'?"

4. That silver-bodied playful one of cruelty is not to be had without gold; whatever you have, give him gold, plenty and plenty.

5. Behold this Vâzıh, with the grief of his two eyebrows and two eyes, taking his pleasure four times over (to perfection).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This five-couplet ghazal is written in the müctes pattern "mefā‘ilün fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün". There is no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the "-er" of "kemer, -ver, seyller, ter, zer, ider". 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 has a witty structure that says the same request in two languages. In the first line the poet describes his insistence on the opening of the belt with a heavy Persian compound, "ibrāmī-i güşād-ı kemer"; in the second he repeats the same thing in popular Turkish: "kuşağını gevşediver" (just loosen your sash). Babaarslan notes that, like many poets of his century, Vâzıh at times slipped into vulgarity; this couplet is one of the examples of that playful, outspoken manner. The word "vādī" in the second couplet means both a riverbed and a manner or way; before the flood of tears the floods abandon both their beds and their old ways.

The third couplet contains a witticism based on script. The poet asks the beloved to keep him in his heart; the beloved answers, "Can there be a dot in 'heart'?" Since in the Arabic script the word "göñül" (heart) is written with undotted letters, the answer has two senses: it means "there is no room in my heart for a mere dot like you", and it also points to the way the word is written. This explanation is our own reading. In the fourth couplet a congruence of images (tenasüp) is formed between "sīmīn-ber" (silver-bodied) and "zer" (gold). In the last couplet two eyebrows and two eyes add up to four, and the poet takes his pleasure "four times over"; this play between an idiom and a number closes the couplet on a witty note.

Bibliography

Online sources