Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün (hezec)

Dimiş ol meh ki gelsün işigümde pâsbân olsun
Seherden gün yüzüm görsün cihânda kâm-rân olsun
Benüm gülzâr-ı hüsnüm hurrem olsun tek ne yâ nemdür
Gerek dehrüñ bahârı ser-be-ser fasl u hazân olsun
Cemâl-i gülşeni şükrânesi çâh-ı zenahdânum
Göñüller ‘andelîbine İlâhî âşiyân olsun
İrişsün tîr-i maksûdı nişâna togrı ‘uşşâkuñ
Bükülsün kâmeti egri nazarlunuñ kemân olsun
Kıya bakışlarum birle görüp hüsn-i dil-efrûzum
Baña kim yahşi satmazsa anuñ bahtı yaman olsun
Cemâlüm şevkile kûyumda cân irenlerüñ yâ Rab
Yiri cennet yatagı cennet içre gülsitân olsun
Dimiş gülzâr-ı kûyumda kaçan cem‘ olsa ‘uşşâkum
Refîkî ol gülistânda emîr-i ‘âşıkân olsun

In English

1. That moon said: “Let him come and be watchman at my threshold; let him see my sun-face from dawn and win his desire in the world.”

2. “Only let the rose garden of my beauty be joyful; what is it to me, though the world’s spring turn wholly into autumn.”

3. “My God, in thanksgiving for the garden of my beauty, let the well of my chin be a nest for the nightingales of hearts.”

4. “Let the arrow of the lovers’ desire reach its target straight; let the stature of the one who looks askance bend and become a bow.”

5. “Whoever sees my heart-kindling beauty together with my sidelong glances and does not treat me kindly, may his fortune be black.”

6. “O Lord, for those who give up their souls in my street in longing for my beauty, may their place be paradise and their bed a rose garden within paradise.”

7. He said: “Whenever my lovers gather in the rose garden of my street, let Refîkî be the commander of lovers in that garden.”

Literary and Historical Commentary

In the Beloved’s Own Words

Every couplet of the ghazal is the beloved’s speech. The first and last couplets begin “Dimiş”, “he said”; in the couplets between, the beloved speaks in the first person: “gülzâr-ı hüsnüm, çâh-ı zenahdânum, kıya bakışlarum, kûyumda” (the rose garden of my beauty, the well of my chin, my sidelong glances, in my street). In Ottoman poetry the beloved is usually the silent party, the one to whom the lover speaks; here the word is given to him, and, in keeping with the redif “olsun” (let it be), the beloved lists a series of blessings and curses. He wishes his lovers well and the crooked-eyed ill. This arrangement turns the ghazal into a small dramatic speech.

The fifth couplet stands out for the plainness of its language: “Baña kim yahşi satmazsa anuñ bahtı yaman olsun.” Everyday Turkish words such as “yahşi” (good) and “yaman” (bad) create a manner close to common speech in the beloved’s mouth; the exact sense of the phrase “yahşi satmak” here is not certain, and the translation proposes “to treat kindly”. In couplet four the straight arrow meets the crooked look; the wish that the stature of the one who looks askance may bend into a bow is a curse found in other ghazals of Refîkî’s too (the third couplet of Ghazal 42). In couplet three the dimple of the chin is a nest for the nightingales of hearts; in the sixth the beloved asks paradise for those who give their lives for him. In the last couplet the beloved makes Refîkî the “emîr” of the lovers when they gather.

The “Kan Olsun” Model

In the Mecma‘ the ghazal is one of the nazires that follow Atâ’s ghazal “İçersem âb-ı hayvânı lebüñsüz baña kan olsun / İçersin sen benüm kanum su gibi nûş-ı cân olsun”. In Pervâne Bey’s anthology the model is a ghazal whose opening line is very close to this: Âhî’s “Şarāb-i erġavān içsem lebüñsüz baña ḳan olsun”; in the heading the Pervâne introduces Âhî as a teacher and the author of Hüsn ü Dil. In the Pervâne the couplets of autumn and of paradise are missing, leaving five, and the fifth couplet ends “anuñ ḳaddi kemān olsun”.

Bibliography

Online sources