Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Yâr ma‘mûr eylemez çün dil harâb-âbâdını
Seyl-i gam yıksa yiridür yir yirin bünyâdını
Leşker-i gam bî-sebeb bizden şebîhûn eyleyüp
Şâdilık çetrini yıkdılar çeküp evtâdını
Nev-bahâr irdi benefşe geldi güldi yâsemîn
Gitdi cün ol serv-i nâz unutdı bu dil şâdını
Ney gibi zâr u nizâr olup delinür sînesi
Bir nefes her kim işidürse dilüñ feryâdını
Kul olalıdan Refîkî saña ey sultân-ı hüsn
Her tarafdan işidür halkuñ mübârek-bâdını

In English

1. Since the beloved does not rebuild the ruined town of the heart, it is fitting if the flood of grief tears up its foundations here and there.

2. The army of grief made a night raid on us for no reason, pulled out its tent pegs and threw down the royal canopy (“çetr”) of joy.

3. Spring has come, the violet has appeared, the jasmine has laughed; since that coquettish cypress went away, this heart has forgotten its joy.

4. Whoever hears for a single breath the lament of the heart wastes away wailing like the reed flute, and his breast is pierced with holes.

5. O sultan of beauty, since Refîkî became your slave he hears people’s congratulations from every side.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Harâb-âbâd

The key word of the ghazal is “harâb-âbâd”; this compound, joining ruin and prosperity, the ruined and the flourishing, in one word, is often used in Ottoman poetry to describe the state of the heart. In the first couplet the beloved does not rebuild this ruined town; so it is fitting that the flood of grief should destroy its foundations. Refîkî works the contrast between ruin and rebuilding in other ghazals too (the blessing of the tavern-keeper in Ghazal 26, the treasure of union in Ghazal 22); here the ruin of the heart is told with acceptance.

The second couplet moves into the vocabulary of war. Grief is an army and makes a night raid (“şebîhûn”); it pulls out the tent pegs (“evtâd”) and throws down the royal parasol (“çetr”) of joy. The çetr was the canopy carried over a ruler’s head; to think of joy as a ruler gives the couplet a lofty air. In the third couplet spring has come with all its flowers, but when the cypress-statured beloved left, the heart forgot this joy. In the fourth couplet the one who hears the heart’s lament turns into a reed flute; the holes of the reed become the wounds in the listener’s breast. The pen-name couplet celebrates servitude like an accession: congratulations, “mübârek-bâd”, come from every side to Refîkî, who has become the beloved’s slave.

Two Different Models

In the Mecma‘u’n-Nezâ’ir the model of this nazire is Kemalpaşazâde’s ghazal “Seyl-i bâdedür yıkan gam kasrınuñ bünyâdını / Meyl-i sâkîdür yapan göñlüm harâb-âbâdını”; Refîkî has taken the model’s rhyme words “harâb-âbâd” and “bünyâd” unchanged into his opening couplet. In Gıynaş’s edition of the Pervâne the model is the ghazal “Görmedüm mey-ḫānenüñ hergiz ḫarāb-ābādını” by Revânî, introduced in the heading as the trustee of the sultans’ endowments. The texts of the two copies agree in five couplets; the Pervâne reads “Şāẕlıḳ çetrini” in the second couplet and “dilüñ dil-şādını” in the fourth.

Bibliography

Online sources