Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâʿîlün mefâʿîlün mefâʿîlün mefâʿîlün (identification of the metre is ours)

Safâ gitdi gönül âyînesinden jeng-i gam kaldı
Gül-i şâdî açılmaz sînede hâr-ı elem kaldı
Tayanma hüsn-i bî-bünyâduna ey gonçe-leb gördüm
Ne mir'ât-ı Sikender ne nişân-ı câm-ı Cem kaldı

The third couplet is not in Kınalızâde; it is found only in Hüsameddin's version:

Nesîm-âsâ güzer kıl ey gönül bu bezm-i âlemden
Nedîminden nedâmet her deminden bir nedem kaldı

In English

1. Brightness and joy have left the mirror of the heart, and the rust of grief remains in their place; the rose of gladness does not open in the breast, only the thorn of sorrow remains.

2. O rosebud-lipped one, do not trust your beauty, which has no foundation; I have seen that neither the mirror of Alexander remains, nor any trace of the cup of Jamshid.

3. O heart, pass through this banquet of the world like the morning breeze; here all that remains of the companion is regret, of every moment (and every cup) a regret.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Meaning and Figures of Speech

At the centre of the opening couplet lies the material of the old mirror. Mirrors made of metal would rust when neglected and cease to give an image; the poet likens his heart to such a mirror. The word "safâ" works here in two senses at once: joy and ease of heart, and the clearness, the brightness of a mirror. When the joy goes, the mirror too grows dark, and on it remains "jeng-i gam", the rust of grief. The second line carries the same thought into the garden: the rose of gladness does not open, the thorn of sorrow remains. Each line thus sets something lovely that is lost against something ugly that remains in its place.

The second couplet turns to the beloved and ties the mirror to legend. "Mir'ât-ı Sikender" is the mirror of Alexander at Alexandria, which showed distant things; "câm-ı Cem" is the cup of Jamshid, the king of Persian legend, which showed the world within it. Both are marvels of seeing and showing, and nothing is left of either. The poet's warning follows from this: since even the marvels of kings have perished, beauty that is "bî-bünyâd", without foundation, cannot be trusted. The link between the mirror of the heart in the opening couplet and Alexander's mirror in this one gathers the two couplets around the same image.

The third couplet given by Hüsameddin stands out for its play of sound. The words "nedîm" (boon companion), "nedâmet" (regret), "dem" (moment, and also wine) and "nedem" (regret) circle around the same sounds. The world is a banquet; the poet counsels his heart not to sit down at it but to touch it and pass on like the morning breeze, for there nothing remains of companion or wine but regret.

Structure of the Poem and Sources

The piece consists of the opening couplets of a ghazal (gazel). Before the refrain word (redif) "kaldı", the words "gam", "elem", "Cem" and "nedem" rhyme on "-em". Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi gives these two couplets as a specimen in his tezkire immediately after saying that Rahîmî's poems, though not very brilliant, are not without feeling. Hüsameddin quotes the same ghazal with one couplet more and does not say from which source he took the third. In his text the first line reads "âyînesinde" and the second couplet "Dayanma hüsn-i bî-bünyâdına ey-Gonça-leb gördüm". Hüsameddin writes "Gonça" with a capital letter; since he mentions the Amasya beauty Gonca Keyvân Bey in the same entry, he may have seen an allusion to him in the couplet. In Kınalızâde's edition, however, the word is simply an adjective meaning "rosebud-lipped", and nothing in the couplet shows that it points to a particular person. Rahîmî's road from Amasya to Bursa is traced in Rahîmî Abdurrahîm Efendi.

Bibliography

Online sources