Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘ilün / fe‘ilātün / mefā‘īlün / fe‘ilün

Viṣāl-i pisteri ger ḫᵛāh-ı ‘āşıḳ olursa
Ḥay(ı)f o ḫasteye derdi yatalıḳ olursa
Bu ḫūn-ı eşkimi görse çeker hemān ḫancer
Balıḳ ẓuhūra gelür ṣu bulanıḳ olursa
Bu sīneye çekeriz biz o şūḫ-ı nā-ṭavrı
Ḥamāmda eger ey dil aralıḳ olursa
Raḳīb atalıḳ ider bir gün ey dil ikrām it
Cānın cehenneme atar babalıḳ olursa
Bu Vāżıḥıñ ġazeli dostlar be-her ḥālde
Vec(i)hlidir n’ola taḥsīne lāyıḳ olursa

In English

1. If the lover desires union in the beloved's bed, alas for that sick man if his ailment should leave him bedridden.

2. If she sees my bloody tears she at once draws a dagger; when the water is muddy the fish comes into view.

3. O heart, if there should be an opening in the bathhouse, we will draw that unruly coquette to our breast.

4. O heart, the rival will one day act as tutor; treat him kindly; but if he lays claim to fatherhood he throws his soul into hell.

5. Friends, this ghazal of Vâzıh is in any case apt and well grounded; is it any wonder if it should be worthy of praise.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal has five couplets and is written in the müctes pattern "mefā‘ilün fe‘ilātün mefā‘īlün fe‘ilün"; according to Babaarslan's table this pattern is used in four ghazals of the Dîvânçe. The redif (refrain word) is "olursa" (if it should be); the rhyme is the "-ıḳ" of "‘āşıḳ, yatalıḳ, bulanıḳ, aralıḳ, babalıḳ, lāyıḳ". Most of the rhyme words are Turkish and formed with the suffix "-lık", which brings the language of the ghazal close to everyday speech. In the edition the last couplet is numbered "4" by mistake; the poem has five couplets. Its place in the manuscript, according to the footnote in the edition, is folio 66a. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is one of the examples of the playful language, at times verging on vulgarity, that Babaarslan sees in Vâzıh. In the first couplet a play of sound and sense is set up between "pister" (bed) and "yatalık" (bedridden): the lover who wishes to enter the beloved's bed is all the more to be pitied if his ailment confines him to bed. In the second couplet a proverb is used: when the water is muddied the fish comes into view. The lover's bloody tears muddy the water and the beloved at once draws her dagger; the bright, silvery shape of the dagger is like a fish emerging from muddy water. This comparison is our own reading, but the bringing of the proverb into the poem is a clear example of the use of idioms and proverbs that Babaarslan notes.

The third couplet gives room to a bathhouse scene. The bathhouse is one of the places where beauties are seen in eighteenth-century poetry, and this couplet shows one of the ways in which the Dîvânçe reflects the social life of its time. The fourth couplet is a play on the words "ata" (father), "atmak" (to throw) and "babalık" (fatherhood). "Atalık" formerly meant the tutor who brought up a young man; the rival sets out to act as tutor to the beloved, but if he lays claim to "fatherhood" he throws his soul into hell. The exact meaning of the couplet is not clear; in the translation we have followed a reading that keeps the wordplay. In the last couplet the poet praises his own ghazal and calls it "vec(i)hli", apt and well grounded. Praising one's own words in the closing couplet is a common tradition among divan poets.

Bibliography

Online sources