Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün (remel)

Keşti-i ten garka varsa bahr-i meyde zînhâr
Tutma gird-âb-ı kadehden ey dil-i şeydâ kenâr
Gerd-i gamdan bâdedür mir’ât-ı tab‘ı pâk iden
Bâda varmadın ten-i hâki koma dilde gubâr
Merhabâ ol rinde kim hâlî degül peymânesi
‘Işk ola şol merde kim bir lahza olmaz hûşyâr
Sâki-i meclis husûsâ bir gözi mahmûr olup
Bûseler nukliyle bezm ehlini eyler şermsâr
Yiri od olsun Refîkî göreyin pervâneveş
Ancılayın bezm içinde yanmayanuñ şem‘vâr

In English

1. If the ship of the body is to sink in the sea of wine, then, O mad heart, do not keep away from the whirlpool of the cup.

2. It is wine that cleans the mirror of the temperament of the dust of grief; before the earthen body is scattered to the wind, leave no dust in the heart.

3. Greetings to the reveller whose goblet is never empty; bravo to the man who is not sober for a single moment.

4. Above all when the cupbearer of the gathering has languid eyes and, instead of sweetmeats, shames the company with kisses.

5. Refîkî, may the place of anyone who does not burn like a candle in such a gathering be fire, like the moth’s, and may I see it.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Ship in a Sea of Wine

One of the poems of Refîkî’s in which the reveller’s air is strongest opens with an image of the sea: the body is a ship, wine is a sea and the cup a whirlpool. The advice given to the lover is the reverse of the usual advice; if the ship is to sink, it must not keep away from the whirlpool, but give itself up to the cup. The second couplet returns to the conceit of the mirror: it is wine that cleans the mirror of the temperament of the dust of grief. The likeness of sound between “bâde” (wine) and “bâda varmak” (to go to the wind, to perish) ties the thought that the earthen body will one day be scattered to the invitation to drink.

The two formulas of blessing in the third couplet, “merhaba” and “aşk olsun”, salute the reveller and the man who is never sober. The fourth couplet brings the gathering to life: the cupbearer has languid eyes and, offering kisses instead of sweetmeats (“nukl”), puts the company to shame. The poem closes on a curse: the formula “göreyin”, in older Turkish “may I see it”, is used in imprecations. May the place of anyone who does not burn like a candle in such a gathering be fire, like the moth’s place. Within the couplet candle and moth change places as both the praise and the punishment of burning.

A Second Nazire on Ahmed Paşa’s Model

In Nazmî’s Mecma‘ this ghazal stands near the end of the long series of nazires written to Ahmed Paşa’s poem opening “Ey ‘arûs-ı hüsnüñe Hindû gözüm âyînedâr / V’ey cemâlüñ bâgına dest-i sabâ ‘anber-nisâr”. Refîkî’s other answer to it, “Ey kıya bakışlu dil-ber v’ey harâmî gözlü yâr” (Ghazal 2), also belongs to this series. Between the two poems the anthology lists three poems by Latîfî without the usual heading; since the rhyme (“kenâr, gubâr, hûşyâr”) remains the same, this ghazal too evidently belongs to Ahmed Paşa’s model. Pervâne Bey’s anthology leaves it out.

Bibliography

Online sources