Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ûlü mefâ‘îlü mefâ‘îlü fe‘ûlün (hezec-i ahreb)

Mey-hâne-i ‘ışkuñda ki evbâşlaruz biz
Eglenmege ol arada ev başlaruz biz
Bir cur‘ayı biñ câm-ı Cem’e virmezüz ey dûst
Şol müflis-i mey-hˇâre vü kallâşlaruz biz
Şîrîn ü ter olsun diyü nev-bâve-i maksûd
Şâh-ı gama şâdî varakın aşlaruz biz
Öñ vardı ise mekteb-i ‘ışka n’ola Mecnûn
Şimdi hele anuñla sebakdaşlaruz biz
Sakkâ gözümüz oldı Refîkî müje cârûb
Tâb ile işigindeki ferrâşlaruz biz

In English

1. In the tavern of your love we are the riffraff; to linger there we set up house.

2. O friend, we would not give one sip for a thousand cups of Jamshid; such bankrupt wine-drinkers and penniless rakes are we.

3. So that the first fruit of desire may be sweet and fresh, we graft the leaf of joy onto the branch of grief.

4. What if Majnun went to the school of love before us? Now at least we are his classmates.

5. Refîkî, our eye has become the water-carrier and our lashes the broom; with ardour we are the sweepers of his threshold.

Literary and Historical Commentary

“Evbâş” and “Ev Başlamak”

What carries the opening couplet is a word for tavern riffraff that sounds just like a phrase for setting up house. The first line ends with “evbâşlaruz”, the second with “ev başlaruz”: we are the riffraff (“evbâş”) of the tavern of love, and we set up house (“ev başlamak”) there to linger. The same sound stands twice before the redif with two different meanings. The rhyme of the ghazal continues the play of sound: “kallâş, aşla-, sebakdaş, ferrâş”. All are taken from the world of revellers, the poor and labourers: the penniless rake, the gardener who grafts, the schoolmate and the servant who sweeps the threshold.

The last couplet is a picture of service. The eye has become a water-carrier, the man who carries water and sprinkles it on the threshold; the lashes are brooms; and the lovers are the sweepers of the beloved’s threshold. Tears as water sprinkled on the threshold and lashes as a broom are a favourite image of Ottoman poetry; Refîkî turns it into a list of trades. The third couplet uses the language of the gardener: so that the first fruit of desire may be sweet, the leaf of joy is grafted onto the branch of grief. The spelling “Şâh-ı gama” in the Mecma‘ text comes from the edition’s undotted transcription; the Pervâne copy reads “Şāḫ-i ġama” (the branch of grief).

Necâtî’s Classmates

According to the Mecma‘u’n-Nezâ’ir the model is Kâsım Paşa’s: “Şehrüñde şehâ bir nice evbâşlaruz biz / Terk eylemeşüz varlıgı kallâşlaruz biz.” Refîkî plainly took the words “evbâş” and “kallâş” from this model. The Pervâne Bey Mecmuası, however, names as the model Necâtî’s ghazal “Gül yüzüñi gördükçe söze başlaruz biz / Bülbüller ile şimdi sebaḳdaşlaruz biz”; the line “Şimdi hele anuñla sebakdaşlaruz biz” in Refîkî’s fourth couplet echoes this line of Necâtî’s almost word for word. The poem thus carries traces of both models. Here too the Pervâne heading names the poet “Refīḳī-i Amāsiyyevī” (compare Ghazal 20).

Bibliography

Online sources