Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Koymasun evbâşlar zâhidleri mey-hâneye
Yir virilmez âşinâ bezminde çün bîgâneye
Genc-i vasl-ı yârdur dünyâya gelmekden murâd
Yoksa bir dîvâne girmez bu asıl vîrâneye
Hâlüñüñ dâmına düşdüm şimdi cânâ gerçi kim
Kendüm âdem olalı meyl itmemişdüm dâneye
Râstî el yur gözinden sâkiyâ devrân ile
Bakmayan dogrı nazarla sen gözi mestâneye
Var imiş başında devlet kim irişdi zülfüñe
Yoksa kılca i‘tibâr itmezdi kimse şâneye
Leb nedür bilmek dilerseñ düş zekan çâhına kim
Bâde esrârını tuymaz düşmeyen peymâneye
Gelmeyüp ortaya kalurdı Refîkî şöyle hâm
İtmesem ta‘lîm eger yanmagı ben pervâneye

In English

1. Let the riffraff not let the ascetics into the tavern; for no place is given to a stranger in the gathering of intimates.

2. The aim of coming into the world is the treasure of union with the beloved; otherwise no madman would enter this deep-rooted ruin.

3. Beloved, now I have fallen into the snare of your mole; though ever since I became âdem (a man; Adam) I had never inclined towards a grain.

4. O cupbearer, whoever does not look with a straight gaze at you, the drunken-eyed, let him truly wash his hands of his eyes as time turns.

5. The comb must have had fortune on its head to reach your tress; otherwise no one would value a comb as much as a hair.

6. If you want to know what the lip is, fall into the well of the chin; for whoever does not fall into the goblet does not sense the secrets of wine.

7. Had I not taught the moth to burn, Refîkî, it would never have come forth, but stayed raw as it was.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Adam and the Grain

The third couplet winks at a story. The lover has now fallen into the snare of the beloved’s mole; the mole is like the grain placed in the middle of a snare. Yet the poet has never inclined towards a grain “since he became âdem”, that is, since he became a man. The phrase recalls Adam, who reached for the forbidden grain in paradise and was sent out of it: “Âdem” is both the name of the first man and a word for a human being, and “dâne” is both a grain and a grain of wheat. The lover’s fall into the snare is thus set beside the first fall of mankind. The last couplet of the ghazal carries another reversal: it was the lover who taught the moth to burn; without Refîkî the moth would never have come forth but stayed raw.

The fourth couplet repeats a curse found in other ghazals of Refîkî’s: whoever does not look at the beloved “with a straight gaze”, let him wash his hands of his eyes (compare Ghazals 42 and 43). The comb of the fifth couplet has “fortune on its head”, because it has reached the beloved’s tress; the word “baş” covers both the top of the comb and the idiom of good fortune. In the second couplet the world is a ruin; the only reason a madman enters it is the treasure of union hidden there. The sixth couplet binds lip and goblet, the dimple of the chin and a well; only whoever falls into the goblet knows the secret of wine.

The Model of Hafî the Shoemaker

In both collections the model is Hafî’s ghazal, which begins: “Diñ iñen yüz virmesün âyîneyi cânâneye / Âşinâlık sûretin göstermesün bîgâneye.” In the heading Pervâne Bey introduces Hafî of Edirne as “ḫaffāf ṭāifesinden ümmī kimesne”, an unlettered man of the shoemakers’ guild. The words “âşinâ” (intimate) and “bîgâne” (stranger) in Refîkî’s opening couplet are taken from the latter half of the model. Among the Pervâne copy’s five couplets the comb and the well do not appear.

Bibliography

Online sources