Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

O meh-rū ref‘-i bürḳa‘ eyleyüp aġyāra yüz ṭutdı
Dirīġā ṭāli‘-i ferḫundemiz idbāra yüz ṭutdı
Kilāb-ı kūy-ı cānān üstüḫᵛānımdan olur maḥrūm
Dirīġā zindegīye ḫaste cān bir pāre [yüz ṭutdı]
Ṭulū‘ eylerse ḫurşīd saḳfe-i beytimde şavḳ olmaz
Nuḫūset cānibine Vāżıḥ-ı bī-çāre yüz ṭutdı

In English

1. That moon-faced one lifted his veil and turned his face to strangers; alas, our auspicious fortune has turned to decline.

2. The dogs of the beloved's street will be deprived of my bones; alas, the sick soul has turned a little towards life.

3. Even if the sun rises, no light falls on the roof of my house; poor Vâzıh has turned towards ill fortune.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is the seventeenth piece in the Mukatta‘ât section of the Dîvânçe, and Babaarslan counts it as an incomplete (nâ-tamâm) ghazal. It has three couplets and is written in the hezec pattern "mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün". The redif (refrain word) is "yüz ṭutdı" (turned its face to), and the rhyme is the "-āra/-āre" of "aġyāra, idbāra, pāre, bī-çāre". The redif "[yüz ṭutdı]" at the end of the second couplet has been supplied in square brackets in the edition. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The redif "yüz tutmak" means to turn towards something, and in each couplet it is tied to a different direction: the beloved turns to strangers, fortune to decline, the soul to life and the poet to ill fortune. In the first couplet the beloved's lifting his veil and showing his face to others makes the lover's fortune turn. The words "ṭāli‘, idbār, ṭulū‘, ḫurşīd, nuḫūset" (fortune, decline, rising, sun, ill omen) form a congruence of images (tenasüp) drawn from astrology: idbār describes a star turning back and fortune declining, and nuḫūset ill omen.

The second couplet rests on a familiar motif of divan poetry. The lover counts it an honour to die in the beloved's street and have his bones become food for the dogs there. Here, however, the soul has recovered a little and turned back to life; the poet is not glad of it and grieves that the dogs of the street will be deprived of his bones. This reversed wish is the bitter joke of the couplet. In the last couplet no light falls on the roof of the poet's house even when the sun rises. Since the pen name "Vāżıḥ" means "clear, bright", the bright-named poet left in darkness repeats an irony seen in the first ghazal of the Dîvânçe as well; this reading is our own.

Bibliography

Online sources