Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Dil düşdi yine derdine bir tâze civânuñ
Kim âfetidür cânuñ ü âşûbı cihânuñ
Göñlüm düşeli derdine dir gözüme her dem
Dökdüñ yire ḳanumı yire döküle ḳanuñ
Zülfüñle ruḫuñ muṣḥaf-ı ḥüsnüñde nigârâ
Tefsîri durur sûre-i Nûr ile Duḫânuñ

In English

1. My heart has fallen once more into the pain of a fresh young man, who is the bane of the soul and the turmoil of the world.

2. Ever since my heart fell into his pain it says to my eye every moment: You have shed my blood on the ground; may your blood be shed on the ground. (The heart blames the eye, since it was the eye that first saw the beloved and made the lover fall.)

3. O beauty, in the Qur'an of your beauty the commentary on your locks and your cheek is the sura of Light and the sura of Smoke. (The bright cheek corresponds to Nûr, "light", and the dark locks to Duhân, "smoke".)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

These three couplets, given in Latîfî's biographical anthology of poets (tezkire) under the heading "şiʿr", are the opening couplet (matla) and two further couplets of a ghazal (gazel). The rhyme is the sound "-ân" in "civân, cihân, ḳan, Duḫân", and the redif (refrain word) is the genitive ending "-uñ". The rest of the ghazal and its closing couplet (makta) are unknown. The edition of the tezkire does not indicate the metre. Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi gives only the second and third couplets, reading "ʿışkına" instead of "derdine" in the second, and "Tefsîri durur âyet-i nûrıyla dehânun" in the last line; in this reading the mouth takes the place of the cheek. Gelibolulu Âlî quotes only the opening couplet, in the form "Düşdi yine dil derdine bir tâze cevânuñ / Kim âfetidür cânımuñ âşûbı cihânuñ".

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet sketches the beloved type of divan poetry with two epithets: âfet-i cân (bane of the soul) and âşûb-ı cihân (one who throws the world into turmoil). In the second couplet there is a reckoning between heart and eye. The eye saw the beloved and made the heart fall in love; the heart in turn curses the eye like a murderer who has shed its blood. The bloody tears flowing from the eye suggest that the curse fulfils itself. The third couplet is the most striking in the ghazal. The beloved's beauty is likened to a copy of the Qur'an, and the two features of the face are explained by the names of two suras. The cheek is paired with the sura of Light (Nûr), the locks with the sura of Smoke (Duhân); although the line names the locks first and then the cheek, the suras come in reverse order. Such a pairing in mixed order is called leff ü neşr-i müşevveş in divan poetry. The word "tefsîr" (commentary) also forms a congruence of images (tenasüp) with the comparison to the Qur'an. Latîfî gives the ghazal immediately after the sentence in which he says that Melîhî knew the science of poetry well and debated rhetoric in gatherings; this couplet stands as an example of that learning.

Historical Context

To whom and when the ghazal was written is unknown. That Latîfî and Kınalızâde chose the same ghazal shows that in the sixteenth century it was counted among Melîhî's well-known verses. For the poet's life and his disputed connection with Amasya, see the article Melîhî of Tokat.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources