Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün fe‘ûlün (hezec-i mahzûf)

Letâfet bahrdür sen anda gevher
Anuñ gavvâsıdur tab‘-ı sühenver
Görindi şâm-ı zülfüñden ‘izâruñ
Yolından nitekim hurşîd-i enver
Müselmânlar kıyâmet kopdı beñzer
Ki togmış magribden şems-i hâver
Hevâ-yı âteşîn-ruhsâruñ itmiş
Meger dil murgı olmışdur semender
Ne meydür ey perî ‘ışkuñ şarâbı
Ki lâ-yu‘kıl olur anı görenler
‘Ubûdiyyetden alnından nişânı
Gulâmuñdur kamer mânend-i Kanber
Ayagın öpmege baş vir Refîkî
Dilerseñ ki‿olasın fihrist ü defter

In English

1. Grace is a sea and you are its pearl; the diver of that sea is the eloquent nature (the poet’s talent).

2. Your cheek appeared from the evening of your tress, just as the radiant sun from its path (in the Pervâne: from a cloud).

3. Muslims, the Day of Judgement must have come; for the sun of the east has risen in the west.

4. Love for your fiery cheek has made the bird of the heart, it seems, a salamander (the creature that lives in fire).

5. O fairy, what wine is the wine of your love, that those who see it lose their senses?

6. Because of the mark of servitude on its forehead, the moon is your slave, like Qanbar.

7. Refîkî, if you wish to be the index and the register (to head the roll), give your head to kiss his foot.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Sun Rising in the West

The second and third couplets carry a conceit locked together. The beloved’s cheek appears from the “evening” of his tress, that is, from among the black hair. The cheek is the sun and the hair evening; but the sun rising from evening, that is from the west, is one of the signs of the Last Day. That is why the poet addresses the Muslims in the third couplet: the Day of Judgement must have come, for the sun of the east (“şems-i hâver”) has risen in the west. A religious portent is used to convey the astonishment of beauty. The word “Yolından” (from its path) in the Mecma‘ text is weak in this context; the Pervâne copy reads “Bulutdan” (from a cloud) at the same point, and the sun emerging from a cloud makes the simile clearer.

The remaining couplets are each built on a conceit. In the opening couplet grace is a sea, the beloved its pearl and the poet’s talent the diver; writing poetry is bringing up pearls. The bird of the heart turns into a salamander in the fourth couplet, living in the fire of the cheek like the legendary creature that lives in flame. The sixth couplet reads the spots on the moon as the brand of servitude pressed on its forehead; the moon is the beloved’s slave, like Qanbar, the faithful servant of Ali. The pen-name couplet ends with an image fitting for a man of the pen: whoever lays his head at the beloved’s foot becomes the index of the register, that is, goes to the head of the roll of lovers. The rhyme of the fifth couplet (“görenler”) matches the model’s “-er” rhyme only in its last syllable.

The Models of Nesîmî and Ahmedî

The Mecma‘u’n-Nezâ’ir counts the ghazal an answer to Nesîmî, whose model begins “Yüzüñ mushafdur ey rûh-ı münevver / Te‘âlâ şânuhü Allâhü ekber”. In the Pervâne copy edited by Gıynaş, this rhyme and metre begin instead with Ahmedî’s ghazal “‘Aceb bu ṣaç mıdur yā müşg ü ‘anber”. The Pervâne copy has six couplets and lacks the couplet of the moon and Qanber; its last couplet reads “fihrist-i defter”. Refîkî answered with a further ghazal on this model (Ghazal 19).

Bibliography

Online sources