Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Çeng kaddüm mugnidür bezm-i belâda sâzdan
Nitekim virür ferâgat nâlişüm dem-sâzdan
Zâhidâ mey içmesek te’sîri olmaz nâlenüñ
Çün bilürsin hazz olınmaz rengsüz âvâzdan
Bilegör meyden çeküp keyfiyyet-i esrârı gel
Gerçi perhîz eylemek lâzım durur gammâzdan
Sözde yüksekden uçarsın bülbül-i ‘arşam diyü
Mâkiyân deñlü nasîbüñ yog iken pervâzdan
Bilmedüñ yâruñ dehânından haber çün zâhidâ
Yok yire bu dâniş ile geçme ehl-i râzdan
Ay u yılduzlar degüldür görinen eflâkde
Göklere od düdi yir yir âh-ı âteş-bâzdan
Kişver-i ‘ışkı Refîkî kimse feth itmez eger
Aña nusret olmasa âh-ı ‘alem-efrâzdan

In English

1. My stature, bent like a harp, makes instruments needless in the gathering of calamity; just as my lament makes a fellow musician needless.

2. O ascetic, if we do not drink wine your wailing has no effect; you know that no pleasure is taken from a voice without colour (without musical mode).

3. Come, learn the quality of secrets by drawing it out of wine; though one must beware of the informer.

4. In words you fly from on high, saying “I am the nightingale of the Throne”; yet you have no more share of flight than a hen.

5. O ascetic, since you knew nothing of the beloved’s mouth, do not with this learning push yourself in vain (and for nothing) before the people of the secret.

6. It is not moon and stars that appear in the heavens; fire has fallen on the skies here and there from my firework-playing sigh.

7. Refîkî, no one conquers the land of love unless help comes to him from the banner-raising sigh.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Teasing the Ascetic

This second nazire keeps up the musical air of the same model but changes its target: in most couplets the one addressed is the ascetic. In the second couplet the word “reng” means both colour and, in music, the colour of a mode that gives a melody its character; the wailing of the ascetic who does not drink wine is like a colourless sound and gives no pleasure. The fourth couplet is mocking: the ascetic counts himself the nightingale of the Throne and in words flies from on high, but his share of flight is no greater than a hen’s. With the fifth couplet the non-existence of the beloved’s mouth becomes a witticism: the ascetic who knows nothing of the mouth should not push himself before the people of the secret “yok yire”, both in vain and for the sake of nothing.

The sixth couplet paints a scene of festival. What appears in the sky is not moon and stars; from the lover’s “âteş-bâz” sigh, that is, from a lament that throws fire into the sky like fireworks, fire has fallen on the heavens here and there. “Âteş-bâz” was the name given to the master who staged shows with fire; at the festivities of the sixteenth century such displays were among the entertainments people loved. The Mecma‘ text’s “od düdi” appears in the Pervâne copy as “od düşdi”, and the translation follows this reading. The pen-name couplet repeats the image of the fourth couplet of Refîkî’s first ghazal on this model (Ghazal 38): the land of love is conquered only with the help of the banner-raising sigh.

Under the Heading “Ve Lehu”

It comes immediately after Refîkî’s first nazire on Şâmî’s model, under the heading “Velehû Eyzen” in the Mecma‘ and “Naẓīre-i mezbūr Refīḳī” in Pervâne Bey’s anthology. This time both copies give all seven couplets. In couplet two the Pervâne reads “Zāhidā mey içmeseñ sūzuñ da sūz olmaz senüñ”; in the last it has “fetḥ itmez iken / Aña nuṣret irmese”.

Bibliography

Online sources