Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün

Benden çevirdi yüzini tīġüñden özge hep
Ġayrın ḳo bārī zülfüñe de n’eyledük ‘aceb
Āc ile ṣu gibi içerem ḫūn-ı sāġarı
La‘l-i lebüñle olduġıçün şöyle leb-be-leb
Zülfüñ ḫayāli gelse göñül kendüden gider
Uyḫu ṭutar kişiyi belī irse vaḳt-i şeb
Ḳıldum şarāba cümle-i destārını girev
Ṣūfī benümle düşdügiçün ṭaylesānda çep
Gördükçe sürdügüm yüzümi seng-i rāhuña
Yitişse yüz sürer miḥeke şöyle her ẕeheb
Öldi teb-i firāḳ ile hicrüñde çün Münīr
Ḫāk-i mezārı olsa n’ola ṣıtmaya sebeb

In English

1. Everyone but your sword has turned his face away from me; leave the others aside, but what have we done to your tresses, I wonder (that they too turned away)?

2. I drink the cup's blood (wine) as a hungry man drinks water; for the cup is thus lip to lip with your ruby lips.

3. When the image of your tresses comes, the heart passes out of itself; yes, when night falls, sleep overcomes a man.

4. Because the Sufi fell out with me over his scholar's shawl, I left his whole turban in pawn for wine.

5. Whenever every piece of gold sees me rubbing my face on the stone of your path, it rubs its face on the touchstone in the same way (if it can).

6. Since Münîr died of the fever of separation in his longing for you, what wonder if the dust of his grave should cause fever.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a six-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the twentieth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 20). The metre is "mef‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün". The ghazal has no refrain (redif); the rhyme is the sound "-eb": hep, ‘aceb, leb, şeb, çep, ẕeheb, sebeb. In the words "hep" and "çep" the final sound is "p"; the rhyme here rests on the closeness of sound between "b" and "p". The poem is found in the Vatican (VT 103a), Vienna (VY 84a) and Istanbul University (Ü 20b) manuscripts; the apparatus shows no variant readings. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet (matla) tells of being forsaken with the delicacy of a jest. Everyone around the beloved has turned his face away from the lover; only the sword has turned its face toward him. The word "yüz" (face) in its dictionary sense is also used for the sharp edge of a sword; the sword's turning its face means attacking the lover. In the second line the tresses too are said to have turned away: the tresses fall toward the back of the head and move away from the face. This double reading is our own observation.

The second couplet is a couplet of jealousy. Because the cup touches the beloved's lips, the lover drinks its "blood", that is, the wine, greedily, as a hungry man drinks water. "Leb-be-leb" in its dictionary sense means both "lip to lip" and "full to the brim"; the couplet rests on this double entendre (tevriye). To drink the cup's blood is like taking revenge on the rival who is lip to lip with the beloved.

In the third couplet the tresses resemble night; the heart's passing out of itself when the image of the tresses comes is explained by a man's falling asleep when night falls. The second line, beginning with "belī" (yes), is a statement of a rule and recalls a similar turn of phrase in tg 13.

The fourth couplet is a satire aimed at the Sufi. "Ṭaylesān" in its dictionary sense is a kind of shawl that scholars wore over their shoulders; "çep" means contrary, left. The Sufi fell out with the lover over his shawl, and the lover left his turban in pawn for wine at the tavern. The libertine's (rind) making the Sufi ridiculous in this way is among the favourite subjects of divan poetry.

In the fifth couplet gold is named as the metal whose fineness is learned by rubbing it on the touchstone. The lover's yellowed face is gold, and the stone of the beloved's path is the touchstone. Even gold learns from the lover and rubs its face on the touchstone in this way. In the pen-name couplet there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between "teb" (fever) and "ṣıtma" (malaria, ague). That the grave dust of the lover who died of the fever of separation should also bring fever is a poetic aetiology (hüsn-i talil) saying that the sickness goes on even after death.

Bibliography

Online sources