Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ḥalli güç yārıñ miyānı baḥs̱i pek diḳḳatlidir
Ḳıl ile vardır cevāb ammā su’āl ḳuvvetlidir
Gönderirseñ yāra zer maḥbūbī bir söz añladır
Ol Sitanbūlīdir elbet dillidir ülfetlidir
Ol perī-çehre kenārıñ dil-beridir ġālibā
Da‘vet-i āġūş-ı vaṣla gelmiyor ġılẓetlidir
Ġamze-i mest-i dem-ālūdı o şūḫ-ı berberiñ
Usturadır kim ucı mercān-ıla zīnetlidir
Vāżıḥa pīr-i muġān emr eylemiş Birmen şarāb
Himmeti ḥāżır ola şeyḫim güzel himmetlidir

In English

1. The problem of the beloved's waist is hard to solve, its discussion demands great care; it has an answer by a hair (as thin as a hair), but its question is strong.

2. If you send the beloved gold, he understands a word fit for sweethearts; surely he is from Istanbul, eloquent and companionable.

3. That fairy-faced one is, it seems, a beauty of the margins (both of the provinces and of the embrace); invited to the embrace of union, he does not come, he is coarse.

4. The drunken, blood-stained glance of that playful barber is a razor whose tip is adorned with coral.

5. The elder of the tavern has ordered Birmen wine for Vâzıh; may his favour be ready, my sheikh is generous in his favour.

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 "diḳḳat, ḳuvvet, ülfet, ġılẓet, zīnet, himmet". Vâzıh's seventeenth ghazal is written in the same metre, with the same redif and a similar rhyme; the two poems are like a pair. 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 describes the beloved's slender waist in the language of a madrasa disputation: "ḥall" (solution), "baḥis̱" (discussion), "cevāb" (answer), "su'āl" (question), "ḳuvvetli" (strong). The waist is a problem hard to solve; its answer is given "by a hair", because the waist is as thin as a hair. Words familiar to a poet who had taught in a madrasa from his teaching circle here become a description of beauty. The second and third couplets draw two contrasting beloveds. The beloved of the second couplet is from Istanbul, talkative and warm; in his fourteenth ghazal too Vâzıh praises the pleasure of conversation with a man of Istanbul. The word "kenār" in the third couplet, on the other hand, means both shore or provinces and embrace; the provincial beloved does not come to the embrace of union and behaves coarsely.

The fourth couplet describes a craftsman beauty: the beloved is a barber, and his blood-stained glance is likened to a razor whose tip is adorned with coral. The same line is used for a sword in the seventeenth ghazal, in the form "Bir ḳılıçdır kim ucı mercān-ıla zīnetlidir"; here, to suit the trade, it becomes a razor. In the last couplet the "pīr-i muġān" (elder of the tavern) is addressed like the sheikh of a Sufi order; the poet expects from him Birmen wine and "himmet" (spiritual favour, generosity). The name "Birmen" also occurs in the eighth ghazal in the form "Birmānī". Everyday trades, the contrast between city and province, and the life of gatherings are among the details of the social life of the period that Babaarslan sees in Vâzıh's poetry.

Bibliography

Online sources