Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün (hezec)

Ne dil kim vasluñuñ genci hevâsıyla harâb olmaz
Yilerse der-be-der yüz yıl aña bir feth-i bâb olmaz
Beni kûyuñdan ey hûrî niçün men‘ eyler agyâruñ
Bilürsin kim bihişt içre müselmâna ‘azâb olmaz
Seni görmege uyhuda gözüm râzî olupdur lîk
Bu rûşendür ki ey meh dîde-i ‘âşıkda hˇâb olmaz
Gubâr olur yile varsa tenüm mihrüñ hevâsında
Göñülde zerre deñlü inkılâb u ıztırâb olmaz
Refîkî hûra geçmez meclis-i ‘uşşâkda hergiz
Şu dil kim derd ocagında döne döne kebâb olmaz

In English

1. Whatever heart is not ruined by desire for the treasure of your union, though it run from door to door for a hundred years, no door will open to it.

2. O houri, why does your rival bar me from your street? You know that in paradise there is no torment for a Muslim.

3. My eye has consented to see you in sleep; but, O moon, it is plain that there is no sleep in a lover’s eye.

4. Though my body turn to dust and go to the wind in desire of your sun (your love), not a mote of change or turmoil comes to my heart.

5. Refîkî, a heart that is not roasted, turning and turning on the hearth of pain, is never fit to be eaten at the lovers’ gathering (the edition reads “hûra geçmez”).

Literary and Historical Commentary

On a Sultan’s Model

The model of the ghazal belongs to a sultan. Both the Mecma‘u’n-Nezâ’ir and the Pervâne Bey Mecmuası give the poem among the replies to the ghazal of “Sultân Bâyezîd”, that is, Bayezid II, who used the pen name Adlî in his poems, opening “Ciger tennûr-ı sînemde dem olmaz kim kebâb olmaz / Gün olmaz rûz-ı hecrüñde gözüm yaşı şarâb olmaz”. Writing nazires to the models of sultans was for poets around the court as much an expression of loyalty as a display of skill. It may be recalled that Bayezid II spent his years as a prince in Amasya and that his poems are gathered on the site under a heading of their own: Adlî (Bayezid II).

Refîkî carries the model’s images of “kebâb” and hearth into his last couplet. In Bayezid’s opening couplet the liver becomes kebab in the oven of the breast; in Refîkî’s pen-name couplet the heart that is not cooked, turning and turning on the hearth of pain, is not thought fit to be set on the table at the lovers’ gathering. The Mecma‘ text gives this line as “Refîkî hûra geçmez”; since the Pervâne reading “ḫˇāra geçmez” (does not pass as food, is not worth eating) fits the image of kebab exactly, the translation follows that sense.

Treasure, Paradise and the Mote

The opening couplet uses in reverse the belief that treasure is found in ruins: to the heart not ruined by desire for the treasure of union no door will open, though it wander from door to door for a hundred years. The second couplet likens the beloved’s street to paradise and draws a conclusion in the language of law: since there is no torment for a Muslim in paradise, the rival is wrong to drive the lover from it. The lover of the third couplet is content to see the beloved in a dream, but since he cannot sleep, even this is impossible. In the fourth couplet “mihr” means both sun and love, “hevâ” both air and desire; for all that the body turns to dust like the motes dancing in sunlight, there is not a mote of upheaval in the heart. The Pervâne text parts from the Mecma‘ only in a few words, and both have five couplets.

Bibliography

Online sources