Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Cihânda hîç hâtır bî-gam olmaz
Kişi gam çekmeyince hurrem olmaz
Perîşân olmaya dil bir zamân yok
Gözüm kan aglamaya bir dem olmaz
Urınmaz efser-i vaslı şular kim
Taleb râhında hâk-i makdem olmaz
Kim olmaz mahrem-i ihrâm-ı hicrân
Harîm-i vasla bir ân mahrem olmaz
Olur kişt-i murâd elbette ser-sebz
Çün ebr-i dîde-i dil bî-nem olmaz
Belâ bezminde mihnet mecma‘ında
Dilüme nây gibi hem-dem olmaz
Perî-rûlardan irmişken sitemler
Yine dîvâne göñlüm epsem olmaz
Nigârâ sini cândan sevdügümi
Dir isem olmaz [u] dimezsem olmaz
Kad ü zülf ü dehânuñ nüktesine
Kişi yol bulmayınca âdem olmaz
Refîkî her demüñ it ‘âlemüñ kim
Cihânda andan özge ‘âlem olmaz

In English

1. No heart in the world is without grief; one does not become glad unless one suffers grief.

2. There is no time when my heart is not distraught, no moment when my eye does not weep blood.

3. Those who do not become the dust trodden on the road of seeking cannot wear the crown of union.

4. Whoever does not become an intimate of the pilgrim garb of separation will never for a moment be an intimate of the sanctuary of union.

5. The field of desire will surely turn green; for the cloud of the heart’s eye is never without moisture.

6. In the gathering of calamity, in the assembly of affliction, there is no companion for my heart like the reed flute.

7. Though cruelties have come from the fairy-faced, my mad heart will still not be silent.

8. O beloved, that I love you with all my soul: if I say it, it will not do; if I do not say it, it will not do.

9. Unless one finds the way to the subtle point of your stature, tress and mouth, one does not become âdem (alif, dâl and mîm spell “âdem”, man).

10. Refîkî, make every moment of yours an âlem (a revel); for in the world there is no âlem other than that.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Stature, Tress and Mouth: Âdem

In the ninth couplet stature, tress and mouth seem to turn into a word. In Ottoman poetry the beloved’s stature is likened to the upright letter alif, the curling tress to the letter dâl, the small round mouth to the letter mîm. Alif, dâl and mîm side by side spell “âdem”, man. And the couplet says just this: one does not become “âdem” until one finds the way to the subtle point of the beloved’s stature, tress and mouth. The reading is not stated outright in the couplet, and the names of the letters are not mentioned; but given that in another ghazal Refîkî draws the word “ad” from alif and dâl (Ghazal 10), the poet’s bent for such games strengthens the reading.

The ghazal works the redif “olmaz” over ten couplets through a series of firm verdicts. In the fourth couplet three words from the same root stand side by side: “mahrem” (intimate), “ihrâm” (pilgrim garb) and “harîm” (sanctuary). The pilgrim enters the ihram; whoever does not enter the ihram of separation cannot enter the sanctuary of union. The reed flute of the sixth couplet is a companion in sorrow that speaks with its breath; the word “hem-dem” means precisely “one who shares the same breath”. The eighth couplet states the lover’s dilemma plainly: it will not do to say he loves, nor will it do to stay silent. The word “âlem” at the close moves between the world and a revel: every moment should be made an âlem, for there is no other âlem in the world.

Kâsım Paşa and Cem Sultan

Nazmî put the ghazal in the wake of Kâsım Paşa’s poem that begins “Sabâ sünbül saçuñsuz hoş-dem olmaz / Açılmaz gül yüzüñsüz hurrem olmaz”. Pervâne Bey’s collection starts the same metre and redif with the ghazal of Cem Sultan, “Göñülde ‘ışḳuñ odı kim kem olmaz”. The six-couplet Pervâne text lacks the couplets of the ihram, the field of desire, saying and not saying, and âdem. The second line of the opening couplet reads in the Pervâne “Kişi ġam çekmeyince ādem olmaz” (one does not become a man unless one suffers grief); the word “âdem” thus brings into the opening couplet the thought that comes in the ninth couplet of the Mecma‘.

Bibliography

Online sources