Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Şem‘-i bezm-ārā bize şol ṣūret-i zībā yeter
Şekker ü nuḳl ü şarāb ol la‘l-i rūḥ-efzā yeter
Cām-ı la‘lüñ ḥasretiyle meclis-i ġamda müdām
Nāle vü āh u sürūd u yaşlarum ṣahbā yeter
Zāhide ḫuld-i berīn ü ‘āşıḳa kūy-ı nigār
Rind-i ḳallāşa şarāb u ṣūfīye ḥelvā yeter
Ḳılmaġ içün misk-i Çīnüñ narḫın ey dilber kesād
Hīc ḫaṭṭuñ gelmesün bu zülf-i ‘anber-sā yeter
Sür maḥalleñden raḳībi bes degül midür Münīr
Zāġ n’eyler gül-sitānda bülbül-i gūyā yeter

In English

1. As the candle that adorns the gathering, that lovely face is enough for us; as sugar, sweetmeats and wine, that life-giving ruby lip is enough.

2. With longing for your ruby cup (your lip), in the gathering of sorrow, lament, sigh and song are ever enough (for us), and my tears are enough as red wine.

3. For the ascetic the high Paradise, for the lover the beloved's quarter, for the vagabond rind wine, and for the sufi halva is enough.

4. O heart-stealer, to bring down the price of the musk of China (to make its market slack), let your down never appear; this amber-scented lock is enough.

5. Münîr, drive the rival from your quarter; is that not enough? What business has the crow in the rose garden? The eloquent nightingale is enough.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal (gazel) and is the ninety-seventh of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 97). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". Ersoy's list of refrains gives the ghazal the refrain (redif) "yeter" (is enough); the rhyme is the "-ā" sound before it: zībā, rūḥ-efzā, ṣahbā, ḥelvā, ‘anber-sā and gūyā. The ghazal is found in two manuscripts of the divan and in two anthologies of response poems (VT 120a, Ü 35a, PB 122a, MN 103a). According to the apparatus PB reads "Sükker" for "Şekker" in the first couplet, "Nāle vü eşküm sürūd u bāde-i ṣahbā" for "Nāle vü āh u sürūd u yaşlarum ṣahbā" in the second, and "ḳıymetin ey meh" for "narḫın ey dilber" in the fourth. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is a poem of contentment: whatever the lover needs is found in the beloved and in love itself. In the first two couplets all the elements of a drinking gathering are listed: candle, sugar, sweetmeats, wine, lament, song. In the first couplet these elements are supplied by the beloved's face and lip; in the second the gathering of sorrow of the lover parted from the beloved is set up, and tears take the place of wine, sighs and laments the place of song. Between the two couplets there is a contrast between the gathering of union and the gathering of longing; this is our own observation.

The third couplet is an example of division (taksim) close to the pattern of leff ü neşr (enumeration and assignment): four persons are listed, and four things, each enough for one of them. For the ascetic Paradise is enough, for the lover the beloved's quarter, for the rind wine, for the sufi halva. The sufi's fondness for halva is an image often used in divan poetry to mock the hypocritical sufi; through it the couplet carries a light satire.

The fourth couplet is built with terms of the market and trade. The words "narḫ" (fixed price) and "kesād" (slackness of the market, unsaleability of goods) call up the musk trade. The beloved's amber-scented lock is already enough to lower the value of the musk of China; there is no further need for the down to appear. In divan poetry the appearance of the down is often taken as a sign that beauty is beginning to fade; the poet's wish that the down not appear may also point to this belief. This last interpretation is an inference.

The pen-name couplet rests on the contrast between the crow and the nightingale in the rose garden. The rival is a crow that does not befit the rose garden; in the beloved's quarter the eloquent nightingale, that is, the lover-poet, is enough. The contrast between "zāġ" (crow) and "bülbül" (nightingale) expresses the difference between the rival's ugly voice and the lover's fine speech. Calling the nightingale "gūyā" (eloquent) is a praise the poet bestows on his own words.

Bibliography

Online sources