Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

İtleriyle hem-dem olsam ḳapusında yek-nefes
Bu sa‘ādet bu şerāfet baña besdir baña bes
Geldi eyyām-ı bahār ḳan alacaḳ demdir bu dem
Dostlar şimden girü cām-ı meye eyleñ heves
Bir ‘aceb tel ḳırmış ol şāne hele varmış bugün
Ṭurre-i ṭarrār-ı yāra eylemişdir dest-res
Şerḥ-i derd-i tīġ-ı ebrūsın ḳılarken ben aña
Didi orasın ḳalem bilür burada sözi kes
Aġlamazsañ ṣarṣar-ı āhıñ ziyād it Vāżıḥā
Gel gel ey dīvāne bārī şöyle yaġmazsañ da es

In English

1. If I could be a companion to her dogs at her door even for a single breath, this happiness, this honour would be enough for me, enough for me.

2. The days of spring have come; this is the time for letting blood. Friends, from now on turn your desire to the cup of wine.

3. That comb broke a strange strand today, it got all the way there; it managed to lay hands on the thieving forelock of the beloved.

4. As I was telling her of the pain her sword-like eyebrow gave me, she said to me: "The pen knows that part; cut your words short here."

5. O Vâzıh, if you do not weep, then strengthen the storm of your sighs; come, come, madman, if you will not rain like this, at least blow.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet ghazal is written in the remel pattern "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün"; according to Babaarslan this is the most frequent metre of the Dîvânçe, found in fourteen ghazals. The poem has no separate redif (refrain word). The rhyme rests on the "-es" of "nefes, bes, heves, dest-res, kes, es", and as a short, clipped sound it lends the ends of the couplets the ring of a command or an exclamation in speech. In the second line of the opening couplet the words "baña bes" (enough for me) are said twice. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. There is no record of to whom or on what occasion it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first couplet uses a familiar theme of divan poetry: the lover counts it a great honour even to befriend the dogs that guard the beloved's door. In the second couplet the subject turns suddenly to the season and the drinking party. Letting blood in spring was a common practice of the old medicine; the poet recalls this custom and calls his friends to the cup. The old link between blood and wine can be felt here too. As Babaarslan notes, Vâzıh gives room in his ghazals to customs and popular beliefs, and seasonal bloodletting is a trace of everyday life of this kind.

The third and fourth couplets are built on the beloved's adornment and eyebrow. The comb has been able to touch the forelock the lover cannot reach, but as the price of its daring it has torn out a strand; the comb thus appears both as a rival and as an insolent thing that harms the beloved. The fourth couplet is the most playful part of the ghazal. While the lover describes the wounds opened by the sword-like eyebrow, the beloved silences him by saying "the pen knows". Since the eyebrow is drawn with a pen, the remark is apt, but the congruence of images (tenasüp) among "kalem" (pen), "kes" (cut) and "tīġ" (sword) sets up a second game: the sword cuts, the pen is trimmed, the words are cut short. In the last couplet the lover's weeping is compared to rain and his sighs to wind, and the poet teases himself: "if you will not rain, at least blow". This joke, close to everyday speech, is one of the examples that support Babaarslan's placing of Vâzıh within the localising (mahallîleşme) movement.

Bibliography

Online sources