Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Göreyin yaşı çog olsun sâhib-i mey-hânenüñ
Kakımaz biñde birine na‘re-i mestânenüñ
Haşre dek ma‘mûr olsun hânesi ol ‘âşıkuñ
Kim olur ta‘mîrine bâ‘is dil-i vîrânenüñ
Sohbete bir hoşça hâlet virdügi içün müdâm
Ehl-i meclis dâmenin elden komaz peymânenüñ
Başımuz hoşdur surâhî ile yohsa kim çeker
Durmayup ezildügin karşusına cânânenüñ
Okıyup ‘ışkuñ ezânını bülend-âvâz ile
Çañına odlar dıkayın ey sanem büt-hânenüñ
Ruhlaruñda hâlüñe âşık olup ey şem‘-i hüsn
Odlara düşmiş yanar gör hâlini pervânenüñ
Çâk-i sînem zülfi içündür dise gam çekme kim
Bir kurı geçinmedür şânı Refîkî şânenüñ

In English

1. Long life to the tavern-keeper, may I see it; he does not scold even one in a thousand for their drunken shouts.

2. May the house of that lover flourish till the Day of Judgement who becomes the cause of rebuilding a ruined heart.

3. Because it always lends a pleasant mood to the conversation, the company never lets go of the goblet’s skirt.

4. We are on good terms with the decanter; otherwise who would put up with its endless bowing and fawning before the beloved?

5. O lovely idol, let me call the prayer of your love aloud and stuff the bell of the idol-temple with fire.

6. O candle of beauty, see the moth’s state: smitten with the mole on your cheeks, it has fallen into the flames and burns.

7. Refîkî, if the comb says “the rent in my breast is for his tress”, do not grieve; the comb’s glory is nothing but a dry make-do.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Blessing for the Tavern-Keeper, a Jab at the Comb

The ghazal opens with a blessing: “Göreyin yaşı çog olsun sâhib-i mey-hânenüñ.” The formula “göreyin”, used for curses in other poems of Refîkî’s (Ghazals 13 and 15), turns here into a good wish; the man for whom long life is asked is the tolerant tavern-keeper who scolds no one for the shouts of the drunk. The blessing then turns, in the second couplet, to another lover: may the house of whoever causes a ruined heart to be rebuilt stay prosperous until the Last Day. Ruin and prosperity are a pair Refîkî uses in many of his ghazals to describe the state of the heart.

The middle couplets personify the furniture of the gathering. The goblet’s skirt is not let go, just as one clings to the skirt of a beloved person. The decanter, on the other hand, is a rival who keeps bowing and “cringing” before the beloved; the lovers put up with it only because they are on good terms with it. The shape of the decanter tilting to pour wine makes the personification visible. The fifth couplet sets the call to prayer of love against the bell of the idol-temple; the Pervâne copy reads “yaḳayın” (let me set fire to), the Mecma‘ “dıkayın” (let me stuff). At the end the comb, with the gaps between its teeth, is like a lover with a torn breast, and it puts this rent down to the beloved’s tress. The poet advises against jealousy: the comb’s “şân”, its glory, is no more than a dry make-do. The echo of sound between “şân” and “şâne” (comb) carries the couplet.

The Models of Safî and Lâmi‘î

The Mecma‘u’n-Nezâ’ir takes the ghazal into the group gathered on the rhyme of Safî’s poem whose first line is “Muhtesib dir kim baña sı şîşesin peymânenüñ”. Pervâne Bey’s model is instead Lâmi‘î’s ghazal “Bu-durur ‘uşşāḳa cān-baḫş olduġı cānānenüñ”. The seven couplets appear in the same order in both copies; the differences are limited to a few words.

Bibliography

Online sources