Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ḥālet-i la‘l-i lebin ṣahbāda bilmem görmedim
Cünbiş-i ḥüsnin gül-i zībāda bilmem görmedim
Rūḥı ‘aks eyler anıñ āyīne-i la‘l-i lebi
Bu mis̱(i)lli ṣūreti mīnāda bilmem görmedim
Nā’il-i āb-ı ḥayāt-ı la‘liyem lākin Ḫıż(ı)r
Gelmedi baña mübārek bāda bilmem görmedim
Bir vefādār dīde-i nā-bīn-i ‘uşşāḳıñda kim
Öyle ḥālātı begim ‘anḳāda bilmem görmedim
Şerr-i zülfinden emīn ol açmayup sırr-ı femin
Çoḳ belālar def‘ ider dünyāda bilmem görmedim
Ḫāne-i ḳalbe gelüp eylerse ger cānıñ su’āl
Vāżıḥā di ġamze-i bīdāra bilmem görmedim

In English

1. The rapture that is in her ruby lip I have not seen, I do not know, in wine; the sway of her beauty I have not seen, I do not know, in the lovely rose.

2. The mirror of her ruby lip reflects the soul; an image like this I have not seen, I do not know, in a flask of glass.

3. I have reached the water of life of her ruby lip, but Khidr did not come to me; I have not seen (this effect), I do not know, in that blessed wine.

4. In the unseeing eyes of her lovers there is such faithfulness that, my lord, such states I have not seen, I do not know, even in the Anka.

5. If you do not reveal the secret of your mouth, be safe from the mischief of your locks; whether (that secret) wards off many calamities in the world, I do not know, I have not seen.

6. O Vâzıh, if the wakeful glance comes to the house of the heart and asks after your soul, say to it "I do not know, I have not seen".

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

With six couplets, this ghazal is the only six-couplet ghazal in the Dîvânçe according to Babaarslan's figures; fifty-seven of the poet's ghazals have five couplets. The metre is the remel pattern "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is a long phrase: "-da bilmem görmedim" (I have not seen, I do not know, in ...). The rhyme is the long "-ā" of words such as "ṣahbā, zībā, mīnā, ‘anḳā, dünyā" that come before the suffix "-da" of the refrain. In the last couplet the refrain is joined to the word "bīdāra" with the suffix "-a" instead of "-da"; this small departure turns the refrain into an answer to be given to the beloved. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. To whom it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The redif "bilmem, görmedim" (I do not know, I have not seen) gives every couplet of the ghazal a hesitancy and wonder that come from spoken language. The poet says he sought the effect of the beloved's lip in wine, the sway of her beauty in the rose, her soul-reflecting image in the flask, the faithfulness of lovers in the Anka, and did not find them. This is a simple way of setting the beloved above everything. In the second couplet the ruby lip is compared to a mirror, and "mīnā" is the flask of coloured glass; the congruence of images (tenasüp) between glass and mirror is completed by thinking of wine as a mirror too. The third couplet alludes to Khidr and the water of life: Khidr is the figure who found the water of life and attained immortality, and the lover has reached the water of life in the beloved's lip without needing Khidr's guidance. The couplet can be read in two ways: Khidr's failure to come may be taken as a complaint, or the lover's reaching that water without Khidr as something to boast of.

In the fourth couplet the Anka is the bird that has a name but no existence; faithfulness so rare that it is not seen even in the Anka restores the contrast in divan poetry between the faithless beloved and the faithful lover. The fifth couplet is the most obscure of the ghazal; in the translation we have followed the link between keeping the secret of the mouth and being safe from the mischief of the locks. The last couplet turns the refrain into a small scene: the glance is pictured as a watchman or thief who comes to the house of the heart and asks after the soul, and the lover hides his soul by answering "I do not know, I have not seen". The refrain repeated throughout the poem is thus spoken at the end as a real answer. The tendency Babaarslan sees in Vâzıh to carry popular speech into poetry is clearly visible in this refrain.

Bibliography

Online sources