Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün

Bir gün āhumla felekler ṭutuşup yana gibi
Ḳarara mihr ü ḳamer oda düşen dāne gibi
Devlet-i rūz-ı viṣāl ile geçen ‘ayş u ṣafā
Oldı hicr ile baña her biri efsāne gibi
Neye düşdi diyü sevdā-yı ḫam-ı zülfüñe dil
Geh deler ġamzelerüñ gāh diler şāne gibi
Ecelüñ geldügine vech bu yetmez mi raḳīb
İrdügüñi ṭalar olduñ seg-i dīvāne gibi
Āḫir ol şem‘-i Çigil gelse mezāruma Münīr
Degzinür ṭurmaz anı cān yine pervāne gibi

In English

1. One day, it seems, the heavens will catch fire from my sigh and burn; the sun and the moon will blacken like a grain fallen into the fire.

2. Every joy and delight that passed in the good fortune of the day of union has become, through separation, like a tale to me.

3. Because the heart fell into the passion (sevdâ) for the coil of your curl, your glances, like a comb, now pierce it and now cut it into strips.

4. O rival, is this not sign enough that your death has come: like a mad dog you have taken to biting whomever you meet.

5. Münîr, if in the end that candle of Çigil (the beauty of Çigil) should come to my grave, the soul would again not stay still but would circle round her like a moth.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the three hundred and fourteenth of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 314). The metre is "fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün". In the list of refrains in his introduction Ersoy gives the refrain of this ghazal as "gibi" (like); the rhyme rests on the sound "-āne": dāne, efsāne, şāne, dīvāne and pervāne. The word "yana" in the first line of the opening couplet does not fully match this sound; we think the rhyme loosens here (our observation). The ghazal is found in two manuscripts of the divan (VT 172a, VY 144b). It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Every couplet of the ghazal is tied to a comparison by the refrain "gibi" (like); the poem therefore consists of a string of similes. In the opening couplet the lover's sigh is strong enough to set the heavens alight. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "dâne" as seed, grain, and small round things like seeds. The sun and the moon are shown as grains that fall into the fire and blacken; the great heavenly bodies shrink to tiny grains before the fire of the sigh. This is hyperbole (mübalağa).

The second couplet uses "efsâne", which the Kubbealtı explains as a groundless, imaginary story, a tale, and illustrates with Şeyhî's line "Bize efsun gerek efsâne çoktur". The joy of the days of union has been left so far behind by separation that it seems to the lover not real but like a tale.

The third couplet is built on the image of the comb. The Kubbealtı explains "şâne" as comb and quotes Tıflî's line "Ey şâne ser-i zülf-i perîşâna dokunma" (O comb, do not touch the tip of the dishevelled curl); the link between comb and curl is a known relation in poetry. The same dictionary notes that "sevdâ" comes from the feminine form of the Arabic "esved" (black) and carries the senses of strong love and melancholy (black passion). The blackness of the curl and the blackness at the root of "sevdâ" come together here (our observation). The glances pierce and split the heart that has fallen into passion for the curl, as the teeth of a comb do. Between "deler" (pierces) and "diler" (cuts into strips) there is a pun resting on likeness of sound.

In the fourth couplet the rival is likened to a mad dog. The Kubbealtı notes that the verb "dalamak" comes from the Old Turkic form "talamak" and, of animals such as dogs and wolves, means to bite, to tear with the teeth; "ṭalar" in the couplet is the old form of this verb. In the poet's view, the rival's attacking everyone is a sign that his death is near.

The pen-name couplet uses the relation of the candle and the moth. Under "şem'" the Kubbealtı quotes a couplet by Leskofçalı Gālib naming the candle and the moth together. The beloved is the candle, the lover's soul the moth; even though the lover has died, if the beloved comes to his grave his soul cannot help circling around her. We could find no entry in the Kubbealtı Lugatı for the name "Çigil" or for the verb "degzinür" in the couplet. We understand from the context that the name "Çigil" is used in the line as a name qualifying the beloved, and that "degzinür" is used in the sense "wanders, circles" (our reading).

Bibliography

Online sources