Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâʿilâtün fâʿilâtün fâʿilâtün fâʿilün (metre identified by us)

Şehr bünyâd eylemek olsa müyesser Ḥaḳ bilür
Vażʿ idem meyḫâneler yapdırmayam dükkân-ı berş
Yıllar ile anı cerrâh-ı ecel ancaḳ çeker
Her kimüñ cânına batsa zehrlü peykân-ı berş
İtse daʿvâ bir müselmânı ṭutup öldürmege
Rûy-ı zerd ü püşt-i ḫamdur ḥüccet ü bürhân-ı berş
Âdemi öldürmege dirgürmege ḳâdir durur
Râstı nâfiẕ durur ten mülkine fermân-ı berş

The couplet near the end of the kaside which, according to Latîfî, praises berş:

Gerçi çoḳ zemm eyledük ammâ gel inṣâf idelüm
Hîç birine beñzemez evvel gelen cevlân-ı berş

In English

1. God knows, were it granted me to found a city, I would build taverns there, but I would not have a single berş shop built.

2. Whoever's soul the poisoned arrowhead of berş pierces, only the surgeon of death can draw it out, after years (its captive is freed only by death).

3. Should berş bring a suit to seize a Muslim and kill him, a yellowed face and a bent back are its evidence and proof.

4. Berş can kill a man and bring him to life; truly, its decree runs in the kingdom of the body.

5. We have reviled it much, it is true, but come, let us be fair: nothing is like the first rush of berş.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Kaside on an Opium Paste

"Berş" was a paste prepared with opium; Kınalızâde, describing this kaside of Refîkî's, calls it a "maʿcûn" compounded of strange and rare ingredients. Latîfî says that the kaside was written to revile berş, the berş seller and "leben-i ḫaşḫaş", poppy milk, in short opium. Kasides of this kind, which take the name of a substance as their refrain and mention it in every couplet in a new construction, continue the playful debates of old gatherings comparing wine with hashish or opium. Refîkî's preference is stated openly in the first couplet: were he to found a city he would build taverns, and he would not let a berş shop open.

The language of the kaside is woven of images borrowed from law, war and surgery. Berş has an arrow, a "peykân", and only the surgeon of death can draw it from the soul it has pierced. In the third couplet berş is a plaintiff whose evidence is the addict's yellowed face and bent back. In the fourth it becomes a sovereign whose decree runs in the kingdom of the body. The marks opium addiction left on face and frame were sights well known to a sixteenth-century reader.

A Fair-Minded Ending

Latîfî notes that near the end of the kaside the poet also composed a couplet praising berş. In it Refîkî, after all his abuse, calls for fairness and admits that nothing is like the first effect of berş. This arrangement, which begins in invective and ends in confession, gives the kaside its playful air. The text quoted by Kınalızâde differs in places: it reads "cellâd-ı ecel", the executioner of death, for "cerrâh-ı ecel", and "yeller ile" for "yıllar ile". Kınalızâde's entry, which mentions the berş kaside, is summarised in Refîkî Ali Çelebi (İbrîzâde).

Bibliography

Online sources