Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

N’ola taḫt-ı ḥüsne anı ḳılsa iclās perçemi
Tāc-ı şāhīdir siyeh yāḳūtdan ṭās perçemi
Ṣanki misk-ile yazılmış ‘ālemi tesḫīr içün
Başda vefk-i sūre-i yā eyyühe’n-nās perçemi
Serverīlik iddi‘āsı birle Fas iḳlīmine
Tuġ çeküp leşker ṭaġıtmış hem-çü Ṭahmās perçemi
Dīde-i mesti ḳatı bīmār geçmiş kendiden
Ḥāl perīşān ḳılca cānıyla ṭutar yas perçemi
Bir naẓarla def‘ olur bu dideden eşk-i belā
Vāżıḥā deryāda gūyā Ḫıżr u İlyās perçemi

In English

1. What wonder if his forelock seats him on the throne of beauty; the forelock is a royal crown, a cap made of black ruby.

2. The forelock on his head is like the magic square (vefk) of the sura that begins "O mankind", written in musk to conquer the world.

3. Claiming sovereignty, the forelock has raised the horse-tail standard like Shah Tahmasp and sent its army into the land of Fas.

4. His drunken eye is gravely ill and has lost consciousness; the forelock, dishevelled, mourns for it with all its soul.

5. With a single glance the tears of calamity are taken from this eye; O Vâzıh, the forelock is like Khidr and Elijah at sea.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal has five couplets and is written in the remel pattern "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "perçemi" (his forelock), and the rhyme is the "-ās" of "iclās, ṭās, nās, Ṭahmās, yas, İlyās". Every couplet describes the forelock falling over the beloved's brow. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first three couplets of the ghazal are built on images of sovereignty. The forelock first becomes a crown that seats the beauty on the throne of beauty; because it is black, it is compared to a cap of black ruby. In the second couplet the forelock is a magic square (vefk) written in musk ink. A vefk is a square chart divided into cells filled with numbers or letters, believed to have talismanic power. The vefk of a sura beginning with the words "yā eyyühe'n-nās" (O mankind) is imagined as an amulet written to conquer the world; the curls of the black forelock are the lines of this writing.

In the third couplet the forelock is a ruler: like the Safavid ruler Shah Tahmasp it raises the horse-tail standard (tuğ) and sends its army into the land of Fas. Since the tuğ is a standard made of horsehair, it is easily imagined together with a lock of hair. The name Fas is close in sound to the fez worn on the head; since Vâzıh's sixth ghazal mentions "locks coming out of the fez", this couplet too may picture the forelock spilling from under a fez. This reading is our own.

The fourth couplet changes the scene. The drunken eye is a sick person lying in bed, and the dishevelled forelock mourns at its head; the loosening and scattering of hair in mourning lies behind this comparison. The last couplet names Khidr and Elijah (Hızır and İlyas). These two saints, believed in popular faith to come to the aid of those in distress on land and at sea, here correspond to the forelock that rescues the one drowning in a sea of tears.

Bibliography

Online sources