Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: müstef‘ilün / müstef‘ilün / müstef‘ilün / müstef‘ilün

Gel kāfir oṭur yanıma bir cām-ı ṭavşan ḳanı at
Üsküfceñ eg zülfüñ ṭaġıt vir bir ḳadeḥ Birmānī [at]
Ṭarzıñ Girīdi gösterir dir meşrebiñ Sāḳızlıdır
Ḳanḳı aṭa ṭavşanısıñ luṭf eyle bu gümānı at
Pīrāheni ber-dūş ḳıl ‘āşıḳları bī-hūş ḳıl
Bir cām dāḫi nūş ḳıl ser-beste-i gerdānı at
Raḳṣa ser-āgāz it biraz ben ideyim āh u güdāz
Ey şūḫ-ı pür-‘işve vü nāz benden ġam-ı devrānı at
Vāżıḥ ḳuluñ ser-tā-serī yapışdura altunları
Pīşānıñ üstünden girü zülf-i ‘abīr-efşānı at

In English

1. Come, you infidel (the cruel, heart-stealing beauty), sit by me and toss back a cup of "hare's blood" (deep red wine); tilt your cap, scatter your locks, pour a cup of Birmânî wine and toss it back.

2. "Your manner shows you are Cretan, your temper is that of Chios," they say; of which island are you the hare, be kind and toss this doubt away.

3. Throw your shirt over your shoulder, send the lovers out of their senses; drink one more cup and toss off the fastening at your neck.

4. Begin to dance a little, and let me sigh and burn; O playful one full of coquetry and airs, toss the grief of the age away from me.

5. Let your servant Vâzıh stick gold coins all over (your brow); toss back that ambergris-scattering lock from above your forehead.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This five-couplet ghazal is written in the recez pattern "müstef‘ilün müstef‘ilün müstef‘ilün müstef‘ilün" and is one of the two ghazals Vâzıh wrote in this pattern. The redif (refrain word) is "at" (toss); the rhyme rests on the "-ānı" of "ḳanı, Birmānī, gümānı, gerdānı, devrānı, efşānı". The "[at]" at the end of the first couplet has been supplied in square brackets in the edition. Taking advantage of the way the pattern divides in the middle, rhymes are also set inside the lines: "ber-dūş, bī-hūş, nūş" and "ser-āgāz, güdāz, nāz". To whom it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is the scene of a drinking party. The redif "at" is used in a different sense in each couplet: tossing back a cup (drinking), tossing away a doubt (dispelling it), tossing off a neck fastening (undoing it), tossing away grief (driving it off) and tossing back a lock of hair. A single word thus carries five separate movements. "Tavşan kanı" (hare's blood) is a name for deep red wine, and "Birmānī" appears to be a wine named after a place or a variety; "Birmen şarāb" also occurs in the twenty-third ghazal, but we found no record explaining the origin of the name.

The second couplet is a play on islands. The beloved's manner is found to be Cretan and his temper that of Chios; then he is asked "of which island (in the old spelling "aṭa") are you the hare". The hare also recalls the "hare's blood" wine of the first couplet. In the last couplet the poet's "sticking" gold coins calls to mind the custom of sticking money on the brow of a dancer; this interpretation is our own reading. Babaarslan notes that Vâzıh wrote ghazals in a playful manner following Nedîm, reflected the social life of his time in his poetry and at times slipped into vulgarity. With its dance, cups and scattered locks this ghazal is one of the clearest examples of that playful manner.

Bibliography

Online sources