Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün fe‘ûlün (hezec-i mahzûf); placed in the muzâri‘ section of the edition

Müjeñ tîr olsa vü kaşuñ kemânı
Umar olmaga ol anuñ nişânı
Benüm çok sevdügüm ‘uşşâka rahm it
Bilürsin azdur hüsnüñ zamânı
Zemîn ehlin boyarsın allar ile
Ne gün kim geyseñ ey meh âsmânî
Meleklerden de ‘âlî-kadr olurdum
Olaydum ger işigüñ pâsbânı
Meded hey dûstlar hey âşinâlar
Ki sevdüm nâ-gehân şol bir fülânı
Kad ü ebrûsı ne dîn koyar ne îmân
Baña ger virmeye bir ân amânı
Refîkî gül yüzi devrinde yâruñ
Komaz elden şarâb-ı ergavânı

In English

1. If your lash were the arrow and your brow its bow, (the lover) would hope to be its target.

2. My dearly loved one, take pity on the lovers; you know the season of beauty is short.

3. O moon, on whatever day you wear sky-blue, you dye the people of the earth in reds (in blood, and in tricks).

4. Were I the watchman of your threshold, I would be higher in rank than the angels.

5. Help, O friends, O acquaintances; for all of a sudden I have fallen in love with a certain so-and-so.

6. His stature and brow leave neither faith nor creed, if he does not grant me quarter for a moment.

7. Refîkî, in the season of the beloved’s rose face, does not let the purple wine leave his hand.

Literary and Historical Commentary

“Şol Bir Fülân”

The liveliest point of the ghazal is the fifth couplet, which leans on the spoken language: “Meded hey dûstlar hey âşinâlar / Ki sevdüm nâ-gehân şol bir fülânı.” The lover calls on his friends for help; he has suddenly lost his heart to someone, to “a certain so-and-so”. The beloved’s name is not mentioned; the word “fülân” carries both secrecy and the playful tone of the utterance. The short hezec metre suits this tone too: the lines are quick, the words everyday. The same intimate voice is heard in the second couplet; the address “benüm çok sevdügüm” (my dearly loved one) puts a plain word of affection in place of the heavy chains of epithets often found in Ottoman poetry.

The third couplet plays with colour: when the beloved wears sky-blue (“âsmânî”) he dyes the people of the earth in “allar”; “al” is both red and trick, that is, the beloved both sheds blood and deceives. In the sixth couplet there is a likeness of sound between “îmân” (faith) and “amân” (quarter): if the beloved grants no quarter, no faith remains in the lover. In the first couplet the lash is the arrow and the brow the bow, and the lover hopes to be the target of this arrow; in the fourth couplet watching over the threshold is counted a rank above the angels. The pen-name couplet brings together the season of the rose and purple wine; the “devr” of the rose face evokes both the season and the round of the cup.

On Mesîhî’s Model, in Another Metre

Mesîhî’s poem “Güci çog eyler kaşuñ kemânı / Çekdi nice gez miskînler anı” is the model to which Nazmî attaches this ghazal, and the series stands in the muzâri‘ section of the anthology. Refîkî’s lines, however, follow the pattern “mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün fe‘ûlün”, and the metre is recorded accordingly. The rhyme and redif (“-ânı”) are taken from the model. Refîkî wrote one more ghazal on the same model (Ghazal 59). It did not find its way into Pervâne Bey’s selection.

Bibliography

Online sources