Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

‘Āşıḳ-ı şūrīde bir bezm-i mürekkeb eylemiş
Ḫūn-ı dilden ḥāżır-ı cām-ı leb-ā-leb eylemiş
Tellemişler perçemin ol ṭıfl-ı nāz u şīveniñ
Ġālibā kim iḳtidā-yı ‘azm-i mekteb eylemiş
Rabbi yessir lā-tu‘assir ḫūn-ı cānından bu dil
Yazmaġa sī-pāresin la‘līn-mürekkeb eylemiş
Sūre-i Kevs̱er ḳırā’at idecekdir ġālibā
Vāżıḥā ol ṭıfla baḳ taḥrīk-i leb eylemiş

In English

1. The frenzied lover has set up a gathering of ink; from the blood of his heart he has prepared a cup filled to the brim.

2. They have decked the forelock of that coy, coquettish child with tinsel; it seems he has resolved to go to school.

3. Saying "Rabbi yessir velâ tuassir" (My Lord, make it easy and do not make it hard), this heart has made ruby-red ink from the blood of its soul to write out his sī-pāre.

4. It seems he is about to recite the sura al-Kawthar; O Vâzıh, look at that child, he has moved his lips.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is the second piece in the Mukatta‘ât section of the Dîvânçe. Babaarslan counts it among the incomplete (nâ-tamâm) ghazals, which have an opening couplet (matla) but do not reach the number of couplets a ghazal needs. It has four couplets and is written in the remel pattern "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "eylemiş" (has made), and the rhyme is the "-eb" of "mürekkeb, leb-ā-leb, mekteb, leb"; the word "mürekkeb" is used twice in rhyme position. Babaarslan notes in a footnote that the metre of the last line is faulty. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The subject of the poem is a child starting school. In the second couplet the child's forelock is said to be decked with tinsel, that is, adorned, and the poet links this to the child's resolve to go to school. The prayer "Rabbi yessir velâ tuassir" (My Lord, make it easy, do not make it hard) in the third couplet is said when beginning a task, especially when beginning to read. "Sī-pāre" means "thirty parts" in Persian; it denotes the thirty sections of the Qur'an and the section with which children begin reading. The lover wishes to write out this section, which the beloved will read, in red ink made from the blood of his own soul.

Wordplay runs through the whole poem. In the first couplet the word "mürekkeb" also suggests "compound, mixed", while in the third it is plainly writing ink. The "leb" (lip) in "leb-ā-leb" (brimful) joins the moving of the lips in the last couplet. Kawthar (Kevser) in the last couplet is both the name of the shortest sura of the Qur'an and the name of a river of paradise; in divan poetry the beloved's lip is often compared to Kawthar. The child moving his lips to recite a short sura is, for the lover, like Kawthar beginning to flow.

Bibliography

Online sources