Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ol leb-i la‘līnler kim şaḳḳ-ı rūḥumdur benim
Bu sözüm ervāḥ-ı ḳudsīden sünūḥumdur benim
Ġamze-i mesti dem-ālūd olmamak mümkin degil
Merhem-i ‘ayn-ı şifā-yı nev-cürūḥumdur benim
Alsa dünyāyı çi bāk ṭūfān-ı eşk-i ‘āşıḳān
Ṣāḥib-i keştī-i nāz u şīve Nūḥumdur benim
Kenz-i lā-yefnā ile sulṭān-ı mülk-i fāriġam
Kim düm-i ‘anḳālar esbāb-ı fütūḥumdur benim
Mülket-i Çīn ü Ḫıṭāya zülf-i dil-ber var iken
Baş egersem Vāżıḥā a‘ẓam cünūḥumdur benim

In English

1. Those ruby lips that are the other half of my soul; this word of mine is an inspiration that rose in my heart from the holy spirits.

2. It is impossible for her drunken glance not to be stained with blood; it is the very healing salve of my freshly opened wounds.

3. What does it matter if the flood of the lovers' tears sweeps away the world; my Noah is the master of the ship of grace and coquetry.

4. With a treasure that never runs out I am sultan of the realm of contentment; for the tails of the Anka birds are the means of my conquests.

5. O Vâzıh, while the beloved's locks are there, if I bow my head to the lands of China and Cathay, that is my greatest sin.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal has five couplets and is written in the remel pattern "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "-umdur benim" (is my ... of mine); the rhyme is the "-ūḥ" of "rūḥ, sünūḥ, cürūḥ, Nūḥ, fütūḥ, cünūḥ". This rhyme pattern lets the poet gather concepts as far apart as soul, inspiration, wound, Noah, conquest and sin around a single sound. The ending of every couplet with "benim" (mine) gives the ghazal a self-assured, assertive tone. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. To whom it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal describes the bond between lover and beloved in the language of a claim. In the first couplet the beloved's lips are counted as half of the lover's soul, and the poet says that this statement is an inspiration from the holy spirits; "sünūḥ" is a Sufi term for an inspiration that suddenly rises in the heart. In the second couplet the glance is both what opens the wound and what heals it. Since "‘ayn" means both "eye" and "the thing itself, its essence", the glance being "‘ayn-ı şifā" can be read both as the eye's cure and as the cure itself. The third couplet alludes to Noah's flood: even if the lovers' tears were a flood to drown the world, the poet has a Noah of his own, a beloved who is master of the ship of grace and coquetry.

The fourth couplet is the most thought-provoking part of the ghazal. The phrase "kenz-i lā-yefnā", the treasure that never runs out, recalls the saying "contentment is a treasure that never runs out". The Anka is the legendary bird that has a name but no existence and stands for non-being. By saying that the means of his conquests are the tails of Anka birds, the poet hints that his wealth comes from non-being, that is, from renouncing the world; this reading is our own. In the last couplet China and Cathay are the lands of fragrance, associated with the musk deer. While the beloved has musk-scented locks, to bow one's head to another land, that is, to another beauty, is for the poet the greatest sin. As Babaarslan notes, Vâzıh was a poet well versed in the themes and concepts of divan poetry; beside the playful ghazals of the Dîvânçe, this ghazal stands as a more sober, classical example.

Bibliography

Online sources