Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

‘Aḳlı nāḳıṣ idici bu dildir
Ḫırsız evden olıcaḳ müşkildir
Gel gel ey ġonce seni bir göreyim
Ben seni görmeyeli bir yıldır
İşigiñ dār-ı şifāsın bekler
Dil-i dīvāne yine ‘āḳildir
Bizden ümmīd red olmaz ey şeh
Dil-i nālānımı dirseñ zildir
Yeter aġlatdı seni o dil-cū
Vāżıḥā var yüri eşkiñ sildir

In English

1. It is this heart that diminishes reason; when the thief is of the household, the matter is hard.

2. Come, come, O rosebud, let me see you once; it has been a year since I last saw you.

3. The mad heart is still sane after all, for it keeps vigil at the hospital of your threshold.

4. O king, hope is never refused by us (we do not give up hope); if you ask about my moaning heart, it is a ringing cymbal.

5. That heart-seeker has made you weep enough; Vâzıh, go on, have your tears wiped away.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This five-couplet ghazal is written in "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün", a short branch of the remel metre. According to Babaarslan's table, Vâzıh used this pattern in only one ghazal. The rhyme is the "-il/-ıl" of "dil, müşkil, yıl, ‘āḳil, zil, sil", and the redif (refrain word) is the suffix "-dir". As in the fifteenth ghazal, the redif works in two ways: in most couplets "-dir" is a suffix, while "sildir" in the last couplet is the imperative of the verb "sildirmek" (to have wiped). The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. To whom it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

With its short lines and plain language the ghazal is one of Vâzıh's most easily read poems. The first couplet rests on a proverb: when the thief is from inside the house, it is hard to catch him. The poet says that the thief who steals his reason is not outside but in his own heart. The second couplet is almost identical to spoken language: "It has been a year since I last saw you." The third couplet is built on a contrast: the mad heart is in fact sane, because it keeps vigil at the beloved's threshold as at a dârüşşifâ (hospital). Since the dârüşşifâs were also places where the mentally ill were treated, there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between the madman and the hospital.

In the fourth couplet the moaning heart is likened to a cymbal that never stops sounding. In the last couplet the poet turns to himself and tells himself to have his tears wiped away, that is, to stop weeping at last. Babaarslan notes that Vâzıh gives room to proverbs, idioms and everyday speech in his poems and uses a clear, plain language; this ghazal is a typical example of that plain language.

Bibliography

Online sources