Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün / mefā‘īlün / mefā‘īlün / mefā‘īlün

Bahār eyyāmı dirler buña diller ber-ṣafā olsun
Şarāb-ı nāb-ı şevḳ-engīz nūş eyleñ şifā [olsun]
İçilsün bāde-i ḥamrā ḳuculsun dil-ber-i ra‘nā
Nedir bu miḥnet-i dünyā elemler ber-hevā olsun
Nişān olsun seriñ tīr-i belāma dāḫi dirseñ de
Pek eyü başım üzre olsun ey şūḫ-ı cefā [olsun]
Bu bendeñ Vāżıḥıñ kes başını sen ber-sinān eyle
Ki o da himmetiñle ser-firāz-ı mübtelā olsun

In English

1. They call these the days of spring; let hearts be in delight; drink the pure wine that stirs desire, and may it bring healing.

2. Let red wine be drunk and the lovely beauty embraced; what is this trouble of the world, let griefs fly off into the air.

3. Even if you say "let your head be the target of the arrow of my calamity", very well, O cruel coquette, let it be gladly done.

4. Cut off the head of this servant of yours, Vâzıh, and set it on a spear point, so that by your favour he too may hold his head high among the afflicted.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is the twelfth piece in the Mukatta‘ât section of the Dîvânçe, and Babaarslan counts it as an incomplete (nâ-tamâm) ghazal. It has four couplets and is written in the hezec pattern "mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün". The redif (refrain word) is "olsun" (let it be), and the rhyme is the "-ā" of "ṣafā, şifā, hevā, cefā, mübtelā". The word "[olsun]" at the end of the first and third couplets has been supplied in square brackets in the edition. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first two couplets are an invitation to spring and to drinking. "Şifā olsun" (may it bring healing) is a wish of the kind still said in Turkish over food and drink; "elemler ber-hevā olsun" asks that griefs be blown away into the air. Özçakmak cites these two couplets as an example of Vâzıh's libertine (rindane) manner in the line of Nedîm. In the text she quotes, the first line reads "pür-ṣafā" and the second couplet begins with "Açılsun"; in Babaarslan's edition these words appear as "ber-ṣafā" and "İçilsün". The translation above follows Babaarslan's reading.

In the last two couplets the mood changes, and the lover's consent to the beloved's cruelty comes to the fore. "Başım üzre olsun" in the third couplet is the idiom still used in Turkish as "on my head", meaning to accept a request gladly. The last couplet ends with a double entendre (tevriye): "ser-firāz" means "head held high, honoured", but a head cut off and set on a spear point also literally stands high. Thus the lover's death becomes a mark of honour among the afflicted. That a poem opening with the joy of spring should end with such a scene shows how love in divan poetry carries joy and pain together.

Bibliography

Academic studies

  • Giyasi Babaarslan, "Amasyalı Vâzıh ve Dîvânçesi", Akademik Dil ve Edebiyat Dergisi, 5(4), 2021, pp. 1922-1984 (text of the poem: p. 1965; Mustafa Vâzıh, Dîvânçe, Ankara University, Department of Manuscripts, Mustafa Con A 495/III, fol. 69a). https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/akaded/article/993264
  • Giyasi Babaarslan, "Amasyalı Vâzıh ve Dîvânçesi", Akademik Dil ve Edebiyat Dergisi, 5(4), 2021, pp. 1924-1930 (life and description of the Dîvânçe). https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/akaded/article/993264
  • Fatma Özçakmak, "Mustafa Vâzıh Efendi ve Dîvânçe'si", Kesit Akademi Dergisi, 7(26), 2021, pp. 255-278, p. 272.

Online sources