Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ẕevḳ itmege şarāb irüp ol la‘l-i nāb ile
Şol deñlü yildi kim ayaġın ṭutdı ābile
Ḳavl-i ṣürāḥī bu ẓürefā meşrebince kim
Ṭurmañ ṣabūḥ idüñ ney ü çeng ü rebāb ile
Sāḳī-i māh-rū ki ṣunar Ḫüsrevā ḳadeḥ
Gūyā ki ṣubḥ-ı ṣādıḳ irer āftāb ile
Pīr-i muġān işigine çün bendeyem kemīn
Döndürmezem yüzümi daḫı hīc bāb ile
Çün duḫter-i rez açdı bu vech ile gül yüzin
Sāḳī-i ġonca-leb niçün olur niḳāb ile
Gör ṭāli‘i ki dün gice ol māh-rū Münīr
Pür-nūr ḳıldı meclisi şem‘ ü şarāb ile

In English

1. To take its delight, the wine ran so fast to meet that pure ruby (the beloved's lip) that its foot broke out in blisters (if "ayak" is taken in its sense of cup, the surface of the cup filled with bubbles).

2. The saying of the flask, after the manner of the wits, is this: "Do not wait; drink the morning wine (sabuh) to the reed-flute, the harp and the rebab."

3. O sovereign, the cup that the moon-faced cupbearer offers is as though the true dawn (subh-ı sadık) were arriving together with the sun.

4. Since I am the humblest servant at the threshold of the Elder of the Magi (the tavern master), I will no longer turn my face to any other door (in any way at all).

5. Since the daughter of the vine (wine) has thus uncovered her rose face, why does the bud-lipped cupbearer keep a veil?

6. Behold the good fortune: last night that moon-faced one, O Münîr, filled the gathering with light through candle and wine.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a six-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and forty-fifth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 245). The metre is "mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün". Ersoy's list of refrains in the introduction records the redif (refrain word) of this ghazal as "ile"; the rhyme rests on "-āb": nāb, rebāb, āftāb, bāb, niḳāb and şarāb. In the second line of the opening couplet the rhyme and the redif merge in the word "ābile"; this is discussed below. The ghazal is found in the three divan manuscripts (VT 156a, VY 135a, Ü 52b) and in the Pervâne Bey anthology (PB 537b). According to the variant readings in the edition, PB reads "çıḳdı ayaġında" for "kim ayaġın ṭutdı" in the opening couplet, the fourth couplet is missing in PB, and "niçün" (why) in the fifth couplet appears in PB as "neden". It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

From beginning to end the ghazal describes a drinking gathering: wine, flask, cupbearer, the Elder of the Magi, candle and morning wine. The conceit of the opening couplet is the most striking point of this picture. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains the verb "yelmek" as to run like the wind, and the word "âbile" as a water blister or a blister on the skin; the couplet by Nâbî quoted in that entry also speaks of blistered feet. The wine has run so hard to reach the beloved's lip that its feet have blistered. Since the redif is "ile", completing the rhyme as "ābile" rather than "āb ile" (with water) is a pun (cinas). In its entry "ayağ" the Kubbealtı Lugatı records that the Old Turkish word "ayak" (bowl, cup) was used in divan literature in the sense of a wine cup; in the couplet by Rûhî-i Bağdâdî quoted there, "ayak" (foot) and "ayağ" (cup) stand side by side in the same play. The blistered foot is thus at the same time a cup whose surface is full of bubbles; this second reading is our own observation.

In the second couplet the flask is made to speak. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "sabûh" as wine drunk in the morning; the flask's counsel, in the way of the wits, is to start on the morning wine without delay, to the sound of instruments. In the third couplet "Ḫüsrevā" is a form of address; the Kubbealtı explains "hüsrev" as ruler, shah. Who is being addressed cannot be told from the couplet. The moon-faced cupbearer and the cup in his hand are likened to the breaking of dawn and the rising sun; the red wine is the sun, the cupbearer's face the morning. In the fourth couplet, with the sense "very small, very lowly" that the Kubbealtı gives for "kemîn", "bende-i kemīn" means the humblest servant. The word "bāb" can be read both as door and, as in the phrase "hiçbir bab ile", as way or manner; there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between threshold and door.

The "duḫter-i rez" of the fifth couplet is explained in the Kubbealtı Lugatı as "the daughter of the vine", that is, wine. The couplet says how out of place it is for the cupbearer to keep a veil when the wine has uncovered its face; a congruence is also set up between the rose face and the bud lips. In the couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) the word "pür-nūr" (full of light) echoes in sound and sense the pen name Münīr, which means luminous; the candle, the wine and the moon-faced beloved who light up the gathering are conceived together with the meaning of the pen name (our observation).

Bibliography

Online sources