Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Görinür o ḫāliñ düm-i ebrūsı ḫamıñdan
Billāh yine ḳan damlar efendi ḳalemiñden
Dendānlarıñ sīn-i sürūr gibi hemānā
Ḫandān olıcaḳ ẓāhir olur ġonce-femiñden
Ey pīr-i muġān zümre-i mestānedeniz biz
Bintü’l-‘inebi bir şeb alırız ḥaremiñden

In English

1. Your beauty spot appears from the curve at the tail of your eyebrow; by God, sir, blood drips once again from your pen.

2. Your teeth are just like the teeth of the letter sīn in the word "sürūr" (joy); when you laugh they appear from your rosebud mouth.

3. O elder of the Magians (the tavern keeper), we are of the company of drunkards; one night we shall carry off the daughter of the grape (wine) from your harem.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is the eleventh piece in the Mukatta‘ât section of the Dîvânçe. Babaarslan describes it as a nazm; it has no pen name (mahlas). It has three couplets and is written in the hezec pattern "mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün". The rhyme is formed by the "-m(i)ñden" of "ḫamıñdan, ḳalemiñden, femiñden, ḥaremiñden"; the "a" in the first word keeps the rhyme from being perfect.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first two couplets rest on comparisons drawn from the art of writing. The eyebrow resembles a line drawn with a pen, and the beauty spot at its tip the drop of ink left at the end of the line. The poet sees this drop as a drop of blood: the beloved's pen, that is, the eyebrow, wounds the lover, and blood drips from it once again. In the second couplet the teeth are compared to the Arabic letter sīn (س). The three small points on top of the letter sīn are called its "teeth", and the word "sürūr" (joy) begins with this letter. That the teeth appear only when the beloved laughs joins the letter at the head of the word for joy.

The last couplet changes the mood and moves to the tavern. "Pīr-i muġān" is the old keeper of the tavern; "bintü'l-‘ineb" (daughter of the grape) is an Arabic name for wine. Because wine is likened to a girl, the tavern keeper's cellar becomes a "harem", and the drunkards say they will carry off this girl from the harem one night. The meaning of the word as both the women's quarters and a guarded, forbidden place makes the joke possible. Babaarslan says that Vâzıh was a poet who followed Nedîm with his libertine (rindane) and coquettish ghazals; this couplet is a brief example of that side.

Bibliography

Online sources