Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Heading: ĠAZEL-İ MÜŞTEREK BĀ-ḤAFĪD ‘ĀKİF EL-AMĀSĪ MÜFETTİŞÜ’L-ḤARAMEYN

Metre: mef‘ūlü / mefā‘īlü / mefā‘īlün / fa‘

Cāmi‘de ṣalın serv-i ḫırāmānāsā
Biz aḳıdalım eşki şadırvānāsā
Her kes saña baḳıp didi sübḥānallāh
Gözyaşı döküp sübḥa-i mercānāsā
Yanınca olur her iki eṭfāl elbet
Ol ġoncesiz olmaz gül-i ḫandānāsā
Bu cāmi‘-i reşk-i İremi ḳıldı müzeyyen
Ḫūbān-ı şeh(i)r ḥūrī vü ġılmānāsā
Gerden görünür ceyb-i siyāhında Ḥafīd
Vāżıḥ şeb içinde meh-i tābānāsā

In English

1. Sway in the mosque like a graceful cypress; and let us shed our tears like the ablution fountain (şadırvan).

2. Everyone who looked at you said "Sübhânallah" (Glory be to God) and shed tears like a rosary of coral beads.

3. At your side there are surely two children as well; the laughing (open) rose is never without its buds.

4. The beauties of the city, like the houris and youths of paradise, have adorned this mosque, the envy of the gardens of Irem.

5. O Hafîd, in the opening of the black collar the neck shows, as clear (vâzıh) as the shining moon in the night.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

In the manuscript this ghazal bears the heading "Ġazel-i müşterek bā-Ḥafīd ‘Ākif el-Amāsī Müfettişü'l-Ḥarameyn", which says that it was written jointly with "the grandson of Âkif of Amasya, inspector of the Two Holy Cities". The five couplets are in "mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlün fa‘", one of the ahreb branches of the rubâ‘î metre. Babaarslan notes that the first lines of the fourth and fifth couplets are in the pattern "mef‘ûlü mefâ‘îlü mefâ‘îlü fe‘ûlün". The redif (refrain word) is "-āsā" (like), and the rhyme is the "-ān" of "ḫırāmān, şadırvān, mercān, ḫandān, ġılmān, tābān". The Dîvânçe contains two ghazals in the rubâ‘î metre (4 and 51); Babaarslan reads this as a reflection of the search for novelty among eighteenth- and nineteenth-century poets faced with a tradition that had begun to repeat itself.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem is set in a mosque. The beloved sways there like a cypress, the lovers shed tears like the ablution fountain, and those who look say "Sübhânallah" and weep tears like the coral beads of a rosary. The connection between mosque, fountain, rosary and "sübḥān" creates a congruence of images (tenasüp) that binds the couplets together. The third couplet is not entirely clear: it says that two children are at the beloved's side and compares this to the open rose that is never without its buds. The couplet seems to describe a young beloved walking about with two younger children. In the last couplet the names of both poets appear: in the first line "Ḥafīd" (grandson) addresses the partner, while in the second line "Vāżıḥ" is both the poet's pen name and an adjective meaning "clear", describing the brightness of the moon in the night. The pen name is thus used as a double entendre (tevriye).

Historical Context

Babaarslan notes that with this poem Vâzıh joined the practice of joint composition that spread in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but he does not discuss the partner's identity. The records in Hüsameddin's Amasya Tarihi go a long way to explain it. According to Hüsameddin, Âkifzâde Abdürrahîm Efendi, the grandson of Îdîzâde Âkif Mustafa Efendi, became inspector of the Two Holy Cities in 1226 (1811) and died in 1231 (1816). The same author records that in 1214 (1799) Vâzıh was removed from the office of mufti and replaced by Âkif Efendizâde Abdürrahîm Efendi, "who was his teacher". The heading's description, "grandson of Âkif of Amasya, inspector of the Two Holy Cities", fits this man; the identification of the partner with Abdürrahîm Efendi is our inference. If it is correct, the poem is a gathering piece composed jointly by a teacher and his pupil between 1226, when the title was granted, and Abdürrahîm Efendi's death. It is not known in which mosque it was recited.

Bibliography

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Academic studies

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