Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Pür olalı eşkden çeşmüm tehîdür hˇâbdan
Ey perî merdümlik it kurtar beni gird-âbdan
‘Ârızuñda hat görüp şâd oldugum vechi bu kim
Açılur gam-gîn göñüller sebze-i sîr-âbdan
Hamdü li’llah mesken olmışdur saña dil hânesi
Dergehüñden gerçi dûr itdüñ beni her bâbdan
Buldı dil zülf-i siyâhuñ içre yol ruhsâruña
Gerçi ‘âşık behrmend olmaz şeb-i meh-tâbdan
Cân u dil olsa hevâdâruñ ‘aceb mi ey güneş
Zerreler ser-geştedür çün mihr-i ‘âlem-tâbdan
Pâre pâre eylesün ko tîg-i hicrân sîneñi
Çün Refîkî çâk olur yir yir zemîn seyl-âbdan

In English

1. Since my eye filled with tears it has been empty of sleep; O fairy, be humane (be its pupil) and save me from this whirlpool.

2. The reason I rejoiced at seeing the down on your cheek is this: sorrowful hearts open up at fresh greenery.

3. Thank God the house of my heart has become your dwelling, though you have driven me from your court in every way (“bâb”: door, and respect).

4. My heart found its way to your cheek through your black tress; though a lover gains nothing from a moonlit night.

5. O sun, is it a wonder if soul and heart are filled with longing for you? The motes wander giddy from the world-illumining sun.

6. Let the sword of separation cut your breast to pieces; for, Refîkî, the earth splits here and there from floods.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Finding the Way on a Moonless Night

A moonlit night is no friend to a lover bound for a secret meeting, since in the moonlight he becomes visible and is caught by the rival; the fourth couplet rests on this piece of knowledge. Refîkî’s heart, however, has reached the beloved’s cheek through the black tress, that is, by a dark road; the tress is night, the cheek is the moon, and on this journey the heart has no need of moonlight. The third couplet also carries a word that faces two ways: “bâb” means both door and respect or matter. The beloved has driven the lover from his court “her bâbdan”, both from every door and in every respect, yet he himself has settled in the house of the lover’s heart.

Within the opening couplet the word “merdümlik” draws on the two senses of “merdüm”: to show humanity, and to be the pupil of the eye. The lover, whose eye is full of tears, expects humanity from the beloved; the pupil is in any case the “man” inside the eye, and saving the lover who has fallen into the whirlpool is its task. The fifth couplet shows once more the bond between the sun and the motes: like the dust that turns in sunlight, soul and heart circle the beloved with dizzy heads. The last couplet offers consolation through an observation of nature: the earth is split by floods, and the floods of tears tear the breast; what the sword of separation does is only another form of this.

On Necâtî’s Model

Both anthologies give the ghazal with the answers to Necâtî’s ghazal opening “Alınupdur lâle rengi ol gül-i sîr-âbdan / Kuruyupdur la‘l kanı ol iki ‘unnâbdan”. Pervâne Bey added a curious note on Necâtî to the heading of this model: “bunlar ẓuhūr itmeyince diyār-i ‘Acem’de Türkī şi‘r oḳınmadı”, that is, before these poets appeared Turkish poetry was not read in the lands of Persia. The sun-and-motes couplet is missing from Pervâne Bey’s copy, which has five.

Bibliography

Online sources