Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü / fā‘ilātü / mefā‘īlü / fā‘ilün

Āhūyı kendi mis̱line çeşmi nişān virir
Çün ‘ālem-i mis̱āl ḫaberin ḫastegān virir
Cengīz-i ġamze tīr ḳomış bāb-ı ‘işveye
Ya‘nī günāhkār imiş aña emān virir
Ṣıġmaz dehān-ı tengine noḳṭa o Rūmçeniñ
Yoḳ lüknetinde şīn o güftāra şān virir
Vuṣlat su’ālini iden ‘uşşāḳına hemān
Ceffe’l-ḳalem cevābını ol ebruvān virir
Taḥrīke himmet eyle hele gel ki Vāżıḥā
Ḳādirdir ol Ḫudā şecer-i ḫuşke cān virir

In English

1. His eye shows the gazelle its own likeness; for it is the sick who bring news of the world of images.

2. The Genghis of the glance (the tyrant glance) has laid an arrow at the door of coquetry; that is, even the sinner is granted quarter by it. (The couplet is not fully clear; placing an arrow at the door may be imagined as a sign of quarter.)

3. No dot fits into the narrow mouth of that little Greek beauty; in his lisp there is no "şın" (the letter ş), and that lends lustre to his speech.

4. To his lovers who ask for union that beloved with the eyebrows at once gives the answer "ceffe'l-kalem" (the pen has dried, what is written is written).

5. O Vâzıh, come, strive to stir (the heart); that God has the power to give life to a withered tree.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This five-couplet ghazal is written in the muzari pattern "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is the verb "virir" (gives); the rhyme is the "-ān" of "nişān, ḫastegān, emān, şān, ebruvān, cān". 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 rests on the divan theme of the "sick eye": the beloved's languid eye is counted as sick. The poet says that the sick bring news of the "world of images", that is, of the realm of images between matter and meaning; so the sick eye shows the gazelle its own likeness. In the second couplet the tyrant glance is likened to Genghis; since the second half of the couplet cannot be fully solved, the rendering is tentative.

The third couplet contains a subtle witticism based on the Arabic script. The beloved is a "Rūmçe", a little Greek beauty, and his mouth is so narrow that not even a dot fits into it. The letter "şın" (ش) is written with three dots; when the dots do not fit into the mouth, the letter becomes the undotted "sin" (س). Thus the beloved's lisp, saying "s" instead of "ş", is explained by the narrowness of his mouth. This explanation is our own reading. The fourth couplet uses the familiar comparison between eyebrow and pen. The beloved's eyebrow is a pen, and to those who ask for union it gives the answer "ceffe'l-kalem" (the pen has dried); this phrase expresses that destiny, once written, will no longer change. The last couplet closes in hope: the God who gives life to a withered tree can revive the poet's heart as well.

Bibliography

Online sources