Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Yakdı yine hecr odına döne döne devrân beni
Dûd-ı dil-i şeydâ gibi hoş itdi ser-gerdân beni
Ol kadd ü ebrûdan benüm bîgâne oldugum bu kim
Yadlara mâyildür ola yâr eyleye bir ân beni
Bir Yûsuf-ı sânî bege kul olma yigdür bendeñe
Baht-ı sa‘îdüm itmedin Mısr iline sultân beni
Gayra degül öz kendüme sûz-ı derûnum yanayum
Hâkister itse germ olup ger âteş-i hicrân beni
Kalmadı gökde zerrece bir yir figân u nâleme
Ne güne saklar bilmezem bu gerdiş-i devrân beni
Kavl ü karârum yâr ile yolında hâk olmag idi
Bir yire iltür ‘âkıbet ol ‘ahd ü ol peymân beni
Câm-ı şarâb-ı ‘ışkdan ser-mest oldum çün Refîk
Mey-hânelerde istesün şimden girü yârân beni

In English

1. Fortune has again burned me in the fire of separation, turning me round and round; like the smoke of the frenzied heart it has made me pleasantly giddy.

2. The reason I have become a stranger to that stature and brow is this: he inclines to strangers; perhaps the beloved will make a friend of me too for a moment.

3. For your slave it is better to be the slave of a lord who is a second Joseph than for my happy fortune to make me sultan of the land of Egypt.

4. Even if the fire of separation flares up and turns me to ash, let me burn with my inner fire not for another but for myself alone.

5. In the sky not a mote of room is left for my cries and moans; I do not know for what day the turning of fortune is keeping me.

6. My word and pledge with the beloved was to become dust on his path; that vow and that pact will carry me somewhere in the end.

7. Since I, Refîk, have grown drunk from the cup of the wine of love, let my friends seek me from now on in the taverns.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Becoming a Stranger in Order to Be One

In the second couplet the lover resorts to a ruse. The lover keeps away from the beloved’s stature and brow and becomes a stranger to them; the reason is plain: the beloved inclines to strangers. If the lover becomes a stranger, perhaps he will befriend him too for a moment. This inverted logic expresses with a sharp wit the helplessness of the lover before the beloved’s interest in rivals. The third couplet turns the story of Joseph upside down: Joseph was sold as a slave and later became ruler of Egypt; Refîkî, however, prefers being the slave of a lord who is a second Joseph to the sultanate of Egypt. The image of Egypt appears in another of the poet’s ghazals as a symbol of office and power (Ghazal 42).

The fifth couplet answers a line of the model ghazal. Vasfî’s opening says “Gör nenüñ gibi gün içün saklamış devrân beni” (see for what kind of day fortune has kept me); for what day has fortune kept the lover? Refîkî asks the same question in his own couplet: there is no room left in the sky for his moaning, and he does not know for what day fortune is keeping him. In couplet six the “peymân” of “‘ahd ü peymân” (vow and pact) also recalls “peymâne”, cup; the words tavern and cup in the last couplet complete this echo. The pen name here takes the form “Refîk”.

A Second Nazire on Vasfî’s Model

In Nazmî’s Mecma‘ the ghazal comes immediately after Refîkî’s ghazal on the same model, “Meyl-i çerhüñ itdi sâkî” (Ghazal 53), under a separate heading “Nazîre-i Refîkî”. The lines flow in a long and heavy remel metre, and the redif “beni” (me) sets out the lover’s state one by one over seven couplets. The Pervâne Bey Mecmuası does not give this second nazire.

Bibliography

Online sources