Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün (remel-i mahzûf)

Ey gül-i ra‘nâ gibi nâzük-mizâc
Kimdür iden vasluñı añup lecâc
Şevkden eflâke atardum külâh
Başuma hâk-i rehüñ olsaydı tâc
Bulsa idi hâk-i rehüñ gözlerüm
Sürmeye çekdürmez idi ihtiyâc
Saklayın mı dilde gam-ı ‘ışk çün
Fâş ider râz-ı derûnını zücâc
Olma tabîbüm sahîhin didüñ
Hecr sakîmine bulınmaz çün ‘ilâc
Başuma dil itdügi ragbet bu kim
Yirde bulur bahr metâ‘ı revâc
Hüsn dükkânını Refîkî’ye vir
Bir dahı yokdur çün anuñ gibi aç

In English

1. O you, delicate of temper like a lovely rose, who is it that recalls union with you and wrangles over it?

2. Were the dust of your path a crown upon my head, I would toss my cap to the heavens for joy.

3. Had my eyes found the dust of your path, need would not have made them apply kohl.

4. Shall I hide the grief of love in my heart? Glass reveals its inner secret anyway.

5. You said “I shall not be your physician”, and you spoke truly; for no remedy is found for one sick with separation.

6. The reason for the eagerness the heart shows towards my head (in the Pervâne copy: my tears) is this: the goods of the sea find a market on land.

7. Give the shop of beauty to Refîkî; for there is no other as hungry (“aç”: hungry, needy) as he.

Literary and Historical Commentary

One Ghazal, Two Pen Names

This short-metre ghazal appears in the two nazire anthologies under the names of two different poets. In the Mecma‘u’n-Nezâ’ir of Nazmî of Edirne it bears the heading “Nazîre-i Refîkî”, and its last couplet ends “Hüsn dükkânını Refîkî’ye vir / Bir dahı yokdur çün anuñ gibi aç”. Pervâne Bey’s collection records the same poem in five couplets under the name of Fakîrî; there the last couplet reads “Vir Faḳīrī’ye zekāt-i ḥüsnüñi / Bir daḫi yoḳdur çün anuñ gibi aç”. The first three couplets are nearly identical in the two anthologies, while the pen-name couplet changes together with the pen name. We have no witness that would settle which record is right; this page gives the poem in the Mecma‘ text, which assigns it to Refîkî, and records that the attribution is disputed.

Comparing the two pen-name couplets is instructive. The name Fakîrî means “the poor one”, and having him ask for the alms of beauty creates a natural bond between name and meaning; in this context the word “aç” strengthens the idea of poverty. In Refîkî’s couplet there is a “shop of beauty” instead of alms, and “aç” evokes both hunger and the command “open”. One might say that the play on the pen name sits more tightly in Fakîrî’s couplet, but this alone does not resolve the attribution; there are other cases in the nazire anthologies of one poem being assigned to different poets.

Crown, Kohl and Glass

The short metre gives the couplets the tightness of a proverb. Tossing one’s cap for joy is the idiom itself, while the dust of the path as a crown reverses the measure of dignity. The dust of the path, in the third couplet, is the best kohl, and the eye that finds it does not “suffer” the need of kohl; the verb “çekmek” covers both applying kohl and suffering hardship. In the fourth couplet glass is a transparent object that gives away the secret within. The sixth couplet begins “Başuma” (my head) in the Mecma‘ text and remains obscure; the Pervâne reading “Yaşuma dil itdügi raġbet bu kim” opens up the sense: the heart is eager for tears, because the pearl, the goods of the sea, finds a market on land. Likening tears to pearls is a well-known conceit of the tradition. The poem stands among the remel-i mahzûf nazires to Ulvî’s model “Zülfüñi göz gördi vü dil oldı sevdâyî mizâc”; for the ghazal Refîkî wrote on the same model in a long metre, see Ghazal 8.

Bibliography

Online sources