Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilün (remel-i mahbûn)

Sâkiyâ aç gözüñi ‘âlemi idrâk idelüm
Jeng-i gamdan göñül âyînesini pâk idelüm
Ya‘ni sun câm-ı meyi cânı ferahnâk idelüm
Mest-i lâ-ya‘kıl olalum yakalar çâk idelüm
Meclis-ârâ olalum bir tolu bünyâd idelüm
Dil-i gam-gînümüzi anuñ ile şâd idelüm
Çalalum çagıralum ney gibi feryâd idelüm
Mest-i lâ-ya‘kıl olalum yakalar çâk idelüm
Penbedür zühd dilâ câm-ı mey âteş-pâre
Yakalum anı ki vâkıf olınur esrâra
Dûst kâmîler içüp sâki-i şîrînkâra
Mest-i lâ-ya‘kıl olalum yakalar çâk idelüm
‘Işk pîrine dilâ gel varalum râm olalum
Bişelüm âteş-i ‘ışk ile nice hâm olalum
Alalum zühdi virüp bâdeyi bed-nâm olalum
Mest-i lâ-ya‘kıl olalum yakalar çâk idelüm
Künc-i halvetde nice zâhid-i mestûr olalum
Yâ nice tâ‘at-i tâmât ile magrûr olalum
Mey içüp hoş geçelüm ‘îş ile mesrûr olalum
Mest-i lâ-ya‘kıl olalum yakalar çâk idelüm
Ey Refîkî nice bir zühd ile mu‘tâd olalum
Şâh-ı hüsne kul olup gussadan âzâd olalum
İçelüm câm-ı meyi bir iki dem şâd olalum
Mest-i lâ-ya‘kıl olalum yakalar çâk idelüm

In English

1. O cupbearer, open your eyes, let us grasp the world; let us cleanse the mirror of the heart of the rust of grief. That is, pass the cup, let us gladden the soul; let us be senseless with drink, let us rend our collars.

2. Let us adorn the gathering, let us set a brimming cup going; let us gladden our grieving hearts with it. Let us play, let us shout, let us wail like the reed flute; let us be senseless with drink, let us rend our collars.

3. O heart, asceticism is cotton and the cup of wine a spark of fire; let us burn it, so that the secrets may be known. Drinking in friendship from the sweet-tongued cupbearer, let us be senseless with drink, let us rend our collars.

4. O heart, come, let us go to the elder of love and submit to him; let us be cooked in the fire of love, how long shall we stay raw? Let us give away asceticism and take wine, let us earn a bad name; let us be senseless with drink, let us rend our collars.

5. How long shall we be veiled ascetics in the corner of retreat, how long proud of a show of worship? Let us drink wine and pass the time well, let us rejoice in pleasure; let us be senseless with drink, let us rend our collars.

6. O Refîkî, how long shall we stay accustomed to asceticism? Let us become slaves to the king of beauty and be freed from grief. Let us drink the cup for a moment or two and be glad; let us be senseless with drink, let us rend our collars.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Murabba‘ with a Refrain

Among Refîkî’s poems preserved in the nazire anthologies this is the only example other than the ghazal. It is a murabba‘ of six stanzas of four lines, and the last line of every stanza is the same: “Mest-i lâ-ya‘kıl olalum yakalar çâk idelüm”, let us be senseless with drink, let us rend our collars. The first three lines of each stanza rhyme among themselves (idrâk, pâk, ferahnâk; bünyâd, şâd, feryâd; âteş-pâre, esrâra, şîrînkâra), while the fourth line, as the refrain, keeps the link with the first stanza. Köksal’s edition numbers the lines in pairs; the stanza arrangement is shown here.

The poem is an invitation from beginning to end and is spoken in the first person plural (“idelüm, olalum”, let us). Cupbearer and gathering, reed flute and lament, the elder of love and the raw ascetic who wants to be cooked become the stations of this invitation. The image in the third stanza is worth noting: asceticism is cotton and the cup a spark of fire; burning the cotton is offered as the way to reach the secrets. In the fourth stanza the words “pîr” (elder), “râm olmak” (to submit), “pişmek” (to be cooked) and “hâm” (raw) use the vocabulary of the Sufi path, but the place reached is the acceptance of a bad name, becoming “bed-nâm”. The fifth stanza takes aim at the ascetic who withdraws into retreat and prides himself on a show of worship; in the last stanza the pen name calls the poet to “become a slave to the king of beauty and be freed from grief”.

Tâcîzâde’s Model

Nazmî gave the poem in the group answering the murabba‘ of Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi that carries the same refrain. The first stanza of the model begins “Reşha-i câm ile hâk-i dili nemnâk idelüm / Gerd-i gam kalmasun anda sulayup pâk idelüm” and closes with the line “Mest-i lâ-ya‘kıl olalum yakalar çâk idelüm”. Refîkî keeps the refrain and the rhymes in “idelüm / olalum”; where the model puts spring and the season of roses in the foreground, his stanzas turn to the quarrel between ascetic and reveller. More than twenty nazires were written to the model of Tâcîzâde, a native of Amasya; Refîkî’s comes near the end of the series. The poem does not appear in the Pervâne Bey Mecmuası.

Bibliography

Online sources