Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ṭāḳ-i ḥüsninden naẓar eyle ḫam-i ebrūsına
Fitne ögredür egilmiş ġamze-i cādūsına
Pençe-i reşk ile sünbül gögsin eyler şāḫ şāḫ
Şāne el urduḳça yāruñ ‘anberīn gīsūsına
Başlar üzre yir iderse yiri var āyīnenüñ
Ol şehüñ öpdi elin sürdi yüzin zānūsına
Ey ṭabīb-i cān ü dil ḳo derd ile ölsün raḳīb
Şerbet-i la‘l-i lebüñ emdür bu dil ṣayrusına
Ey Refīḳī ṣan muḳārindür hilāle āfitāb
Devr-i ḥüsninde naẓar eyler ḫam-i ebrūsına

In English

1. From the arch of his beauty look at the curve of his brow; bending, it teaches mischief to his sorcerer glance.

2. Whenever the comb lays a hand on the beloved’s ambergris tress, the hyacinth tears its breast branch by branch with the claw of envy.

3. If the mirror takes its place above heads, it deserves it; it has kissed that king’s hand and rubbed its face on his knee.

4. O physician of soul and heart, let the rival die of his pain; the sherbet of your ruby lip is the remedy for this sick heart.

5. O Refîkî, you would think the sun was in conjunction with the crescent; in the season of his beauty (his face) gazes at the curve of his brow.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Mirror’s Privilege

The third couplet envies one of the beloved’s possessions. If the mirror takes its place “above heads”, it has the right to: it has been held in the beloved’s hand, has kissed his hand and, laid on his knee, has rubbed its face on his knee. Kissing the hand and rubbing one’s face on the knee are signs of the respect shown to a superior in court etiquette; the mirror has shown this respect and in return has become the nearest thing to the beloved. The phrase “başlar üzre” (above heads) evokes both respect and the mirror hanging high. The comb’s touching of the tress, in the second couplet, drives the hyacinth to tear its breast with envy; the hyacinth’s leaves, split branch by branch, resemble a torn breast.

The opening and pen-name couplets end with the same rhyme word, the phrase “ḫam-i ebrūsına” (at the curve of his brow). This repetition of the rhyme at the beginning and end of the ghazal closes it like a ring. At the start the bent brow is like a teacher instructing the glance of the eye beneath it in mischief; in the last couplet sun and crescent have come together: the face is the sun, the brow the crescent, and in the season of beauty the face gazes at the curve of the brow. The sun and moon being “muḳārin”, in conjunction, appears in another of Refîkî’s ghazals as a sign of good fortune (Ghazal 48). In the fourth couplet the old Turkish word “ṣayru” (sick), together with the images of physician and sherbet, makes for a plain manner of speech.

The Model of Mesîhî Beg

The ghazal is found only in Pervâne Bey’s anthology. The model is the ghazal of Mesîhî Beg, said in the heading to be from the Vardar and one of the holders of tımar fiefs: “Baġlamasaydum seni bir dil-berüñ gīsūsına / Dest-res bulmazduñ ey dil dil-berüñ pā-būsına”. Refîkî uses the model’s rhyme “gīsūsına” unchanged in his second couplet.

Bibliography

Online sources