Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün / fe‘ilātün / fe‘ilātün / fe‘ilün

Yārıñ ol la‘l-i güher-bārına māşā’allāh
Leẕẕet-i şīve-i güftārına māşā’allāh
‘Ak(i)s eyler meh-i tābānı daḫi billāhi
Anıñ āyīne-i ruḫsārına māşā’allāh
Bir pıçaḳdan geçirir günde hezār ‘uşşāḳı
Ḫancer-i ġamze-i ġaddārına māşā’allāh
Anıñ ol ḳāmet-i bālāsına ‘aşḳ olsun dost
Şīve vü nāz-ıla reftārına māşā’allāh
Vāżıḥā ḳaṭ‘-ı naẓar ġamze-i ḫūn-rīzinden
Beldeki ḫancer-i ḫūn-ḫᵛārına māşā’allāh

In English

1. Mashallah to that pearl-scattering ruby lip of the beloved; mashallah to the delight of the grace of his speech.

2. By God, it reflects even the shining moon; mashallah to the mirror of his cheek.

3. In a single day he puts a thousand lovers to the knife; mashallah to the dagger of his cruel glance.

4. Bravo, my friend, to that tall stature of his; mashallah to his gait of grace and coquetry.

5. O Vâzıh, let us leave aside his blood-shedding glance; mashallah to the blood-drinking dagger at his waist.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal has five couplets and is written in the remel pattern "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "-ına māşā’allāh" (mashallah to his ...); the rhyme is the "-ār" of "güher-bār, güftār, ruḫsār, ġaddār, reftār, ḫūn-ḫᵛār". Since both lines of the opening couplet end with the refrain, the word "māşā’allāh" is repeated six times in the poem. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. To whom it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The whole structure of the ghazal rests on the refrain "mashallah". "Mā şā’allāh" means "what God has willed" and is said over something admired so that the evil eye should not touch it. The poet lists one by one the beloved's lip, speech, cheek, stature, gait and even the glance and dagger that kill him, and says "mashallah" to each. As Babaarslan notes, Vâzıh carries customs and popular beliefs into his ghazals; here a phrase spoken against the evil eye, a popular belief, becomes the refrain of a whole ghazal. The praise itself is very close to spoken language: "aşk olsun dost" (bravo, my friend) is an exclamation of appreciation used in everyday life.

The joke of the ghazal lies in the way the praise extends to the beloved's cruelty. In the third couplet the beloved "puts a thousand lovers to the knife" in a single day; the idiom describes a massacre, yet the poet says "mashallah" even to this cruelty. In the first couplet "güher-bār", the pearl-scattering lip, means that the beloved's words are as precious as pearls. In the second couplet the cheek is compared to a mirror bright enough to reflect even the moon. In the last couplet the glance is weighed against the dagger carried at the waist: the poet sets the blood-shedding glance aside and declares that it is the dagger itself he admires. This couplet can be read together with the other ghazals of the Dîvânçe in which the beloved is named as a young rake carrying weapons at the waist.

Bibliography

Online sources