Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefāʿilün feʿilātün mefāʿilün feʿilün

Müẕāb-ı cevher-i cāndan mı āb u tāb saña
Ki cānlar itmede peyveste inciẕāb saña
Ne kīmyāsın ider bāde inḳılāb saña
Olur kemāl-i cemāl içdigiñ şarāb saña
Seni begendi o müşkīl-pesend olan göñlüm
Uzatdı gözlerim engüşt-i intiḫāb saña
Dimem ki ḥaḳ seni ḥıfẓ eylesün naẓarlardan
Bu müstecāb duʿā olsun iḥticāb saña
Lebiñ teḥarrük iderse cihān u cāndandır
Ŝafā-yı lerziş-i nūruñdur ıżṭırāb saña
Nevā-yı nevḥa-i cānımla cünbiş-i ḳalbim
Biri terāne-i bezmiñ biri rebāb saña
Ten-i ḫarāb ḳapuñdan atılsa da ṭaşra
Şefīʿ-i cānım olur eski intisāb saña
Leb-i mübeccel-i iḳbāle büyük teʾāli Allāh
Ki oldı pāyāñı taḳbīle dest-yāb saña

In English

1. Does this lustre and freshness come to you from the molten essence of the soul, that souls are drawn to you without pause?

2. What an alchemy you are! Wine turns into something else in you; the wine you drink becomes in you the perfection of beauty.

3. That hard-to-please heart of mine has chosen you; my eyes have pointed at you the finger of choice.

4. I do not say "May God guard you from the evil eye"; for this prayer, once granted, would become a veil for you, a hiding away.

5. If your lip moves, that is from the world and from the soul; the trembling seen in you is the delight of the quivering of your light.

6. The song of my soul's lament and the beating of my heart: one is the tune of your gathering, the other a rebab for you.

7. Even if my ruined body is cast out of your door, my old attachment to you will intercede for my soul.

8. What a great (grace) for the honoured lip of fortune, God be exalted, that it reached you to kiss your feet. (The line is not entirely clear as read in the thesis.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

In these eight couplets, which carry no pen name, the beloved's beauty is described like an alchemical experiment. Even the rhyme hints at this language: âb u tâb, incizâb, inkılâb, şarâb, intihâb, ihticâb, ıztırâb, rebâb, intisâb and dest-yâb close the "mefâilün feilâtün mefâilün feilün" line before the redif (refrain) "saña", to you. In the first two couplets the beloved is like an alchemist's crucible. Her lustre comes from the melting of the essence of the soul, the wine she drinks is transformed in her and turned into the perfection of beauty. The words "müzâb" (molten), "inkılâb" (transformation) and "kîmyâ" (alchemy) build this scene in the language of a laboratory.

The fourth couplet is the ghazal's subtlest conceit. While saying "May God guard you from the evil eye" to a loved one is a customary prayer, the poet refrains from saying it; for if the prayer were granted, the beloved would be hidden from all looks and become invisible. The lover's fear is less the evil eye than being unable to see the beloved. The "engüşt-i intihâb", the finger of choice, in the third couplet is also a fine conceit: the decision of the hard-to-please heart is expressed as the eyes choosing the beloved as if pointing with a finger.

The sixth couplet turns the lover's lament and heartbeat into the song and the rebab (bowed lute) of the beloved's gathering; even pain joins the music of that gathering. The seventh couplet carries a hope that ends in loyalty: though the body be driven from the door, the old attachment will intercede for the soul. In the first line of the last couplet the thesis's reading suits neither metre nor sense, and the English can meet that line only by guesswork.

Bibliography

  • Havva Tok Yıldız, Merzifonlu İbrâhîm Cûdî Dîvânı (İnceleme-Metin-Sözlük) [1b-43a], Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun 2017, pp. 28-29 (poem no. 17; manuscript fol. 7a). http://libra.omu.edu.tr/tezler/116853.pdf

Online sources