Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâʿilâtün fâʿilâtün fâʿilâtün fâʿilün (metre identified by us)

Derdümi ey yâr dirdüm kimse yok benden yana
Gönlüme dirdüm velî gönlüm dahı senden yana
Bâg-ı dehr içinde ey serv-i hırâmânum benüm
Olmadı bir kerre meylün âh kim benden yana
Olmasun sensüz tek ü tenhâ bu cism-i nâ-tüvân
Kandasın ey cânumun cânı yetiş benden yana

In English

1. Beloved, I told my pain, but there is no one on my side; I told it to my heart, but my heart too is on your side.

2. O my swaying cypress, in this garden of the world, alas, not once has your inclination been towards me.

3. Let not this feeble body be left alone and solitary without you; where are you, soul of my soul, come to my side.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The whole weight of the ghazal rests on the refrain "benden yana", towards me, on my side. The phrase means both direction and taking sides, and it is worked in a different way in each of the three couplets. In the opening couplet the lover looks for someone to take his part in his pain; no one is on his side, and as a last resort he turns to his own heart, but his heart too is on the beloved's side. The phrase "senden yana", on your side, set against the refrain, makes the couplet's point: even the lover's own heart has lined up against him. In the second couplet "meyl" moves between the leaning of the cypress and the beloved's giving of her heart: the swaying cypress bends every way, but never towards the lover. In the last couplet the refrain becomes a call; "yetiş benden yana", come to my side, names the side to which help is summoned.

Kınalızâde gives the three couplets in a row with "Velehû"; the full ghazal and its pen-name couplet are unknown. Hüsameddin writes the opening couplet as "Hâlimi ey yâr dirdim" and "Gönlüme dirsem eğer". In his text the two lines become a conditional: "even if I told my heart, my heart too is on your side." The sense hardly changes, but Kınalızâde's past tense sets out more clearly the order in which the lover turned first to everyone, then to his own heart, and came away empty-handed. With its plain diction, close to everyday speech, the ghazal fits Kınalızâde's description of Refîkî's verse as "sâde vü güşâde", plain and open. Kınalızâde's other remarks on the poet are on the page Refîkî Ali Çelebi (İbrîzâde).

Bibliography

Online sources