Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü / mefā‘īlü / mefā‘īlü / fe‘ūlün

Bī-hūş oluruz nāz-ıla gözler süzülünce
Bī-tāb oluruz şöyle o kākül bükülünce
Zerrīn-ġılāf oldı ṣanurlar ten-i zerdim
Ser-tā-be-ḳadem sīneme ḫancer gömülünce
Bir yumma Firengī pıçaġa beñzer o ġamze
Mestāne-be-mestāne o gözler süzülünce
Bildim o na‘l-bend güzeli çaḳıcı imiş
Ol dīde-i mestāne süzülüp büzülünce
Yolum-be-yolum itdi raḳībiñ ṣaḳalını
Vāżıḥ da henūz işte bir iş ṭutdı yolunca

In English

1. When the eyes narrow with coquetry we lose our senses; when that forelock curls like this we lose our strength.

2. When a dagger is buried in my breast from head to foot, they take my yellowed body for a golden sheath.

3. Whenever those drunken eyes narrow and close, that glance resembles a Frankish folding knife that shuts and opens.

4. When that eye narrowed and puckered so drunkenly, I understood that the beauty of a farrier was a nailer.

5. The rival's beard was plucked hair by hair; and Vâzıh too has only just handled a matter properly.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal has five couplets and is written in the hezec pattern "mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün". Rhyme and redif (refrain word) rest on the sound "-ülünce": "süzülünce, bükülünce, gömülünce, büzülünce". The phrase "gözler süzülünce" (when the eyes narrow) is repeated word for word in the opening couplet and in the third couplet, and the verb "süzülüp" is used again in the fourth. In the last couplet the rhyme is broken by the word "yolunca"; here the poet has put the play of sound between "yolmak" (to pluck) and "yolunca" ahead of the rhyme. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. To whom it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is a poem built on narrowing eyes and very close to spoken language. In the first couplet the coquettish narrowing of the eye and the curling of the forelock are given as two movements that make the lover lose his senses. In the second couplet the dagger buried in the breast and the yellow body come together: the lover's yellowed body looks like a golden sheath with a dagger buried in it. The third couplet is an interesting example of the details of everyday life that Babaarslan sees in Vâzıh. "Yumma Firengī pıçaḳ" must be a folding European knife whose blade shuts and opens; the narrowing and closing of the eye is compared to this knife that closes and opens its mouth. That the glance cuts like a knife is an old theme, but to describe it through a foreign knife sold in the market of the day is Vâzıh's invention.

In the fourth couplet the beloved is a farrier. The word "çakıcı" means the man who nails on horseshoes; thought of together with the narrowing and puckering of the eye, it also brings to mind someone who winks and gives signals. The couplet is built on this double entendre (tevriye), and the naming of the beloved as a tradesman can be read together with the other market beauties of the Dîvânçe. The last couplet is not entirely clear. The first line says that the rival's beard was plucked hair by hair, but does not say who did it; in the translation we have kept to a passive construction. In the second line "yolunca", meaning "properly, as it should be", plays on the plucking of the beard: Vâzıh too has handled his business "yolunca". The plucking of the rival's beard is an example of the mocking language, at times verging on vulgarity, that Babaarslan mentions.

Bibliography

Online sources