Original Ottoman Turkish Text

The first three couplets are taken from the text of Sehî's edition, the fourth from manuscript Ü1, given in a footnote of the edition.

Aramuzda olan hicrân efendi ṣanma bendendür
Ḳażâ-yı âsumânîdür ne sendendür ne bendendür
Begüm sensin baña devlet saña bend iledür şöhret
Şeref cân iledür cisme ẓuhûr-ı cân bedendendür
Ben iy mâh-ı cüvân-baḫtum bugün senden cüdâ düşmek
Benüm naḥs-ı sitâremdür sipihr-i pîre-zendendür
Yaḳana göz dikenler var anuñçündür benüm nâlem
Fiġânı bülbülüñ gülden degüldür hep dikendendür

In English

1. Sir, do not think the separation between us comes from me; it is a decree of heaven, neither from you nor from me.

2. My lord, you are my fortune; your fame comes through the "bend": the body's honour comes through the soul, and the soul's appearance comes from the body. ("Bend" is so printed in the edition; the structure of the line suggests the reading "ben ile", "through me"; this is a guess.)

3. O my moon of young fortune, being parted from you today comes from my ill-omened star; (it is the work of) the old-crone sky.

4. There are those who have set their eyes on your collar, and that is why I lament; the nightingale's cry is not from the rose but all from the thorn.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Ghazal Carried by Its Refrain

The whole weight of the ghazal lies in the redif "-dendür" (comes from): bendendür, sendendür, bedendendür, pîre-zendendür, dikendendür. At the end of every line the question of "where something comes from" is posed, and each time the answer changes. The opening couplet carries the source of separation outside both lover and beloved: the parting comes neither from you nor from me, it is a decree sent down from heaven. This way of speaking shows the lover's courtesy in refusing to blame the beloved. The third couplet ties the same thought to the stars: the separation comes from the poet's ill-omened star and is the work of the sky, imagined as a "pîre-zen", an old crone. Likening the sky to a scheming old woman is common in divan poetry.

The second couplet applies the mutual bond between soul and body to the relation of lover and beloved: the body's honour comes from the soul, but the soul too can only appear in the body. Accordingly the beloved is the lover's fortune, and the lover the bearer of the beloved's fame. The word "bend" in the edition does not quite fit this construction; read as "ben", the line would mean "your fame is through me" and would match the second line of the couplet exactly. We have no manuscript that supports this reading.

The fourth couplet is found only in manuscript Ü1 and closes with a pun: "göz dikenler", those who set their eyes on the beloved's collar, are the rivals; and the source of the nightingale's cry is not the rose but the "diken" (thorn). The identity of sound between "göz dikmek" (to covet) and "diken" turns the rival into the thorn of the rose.

Sehî's Remzî

Sehî Bey's Heşt Bihişt, completed in 1538, gives these couplets in the entry "Mevlânâ Remzî": his name is Muslihuddîn, he is from Bursa, he served as judge of Gelibolu, and he writes poetry in Arabic, Persian and Turkish. That this man is the Kadı Mustafa Remzî of Bursa of the later tezkires is an inference; Muslihuddîn is a common honorific for men named Mustafa. The link tying Remzî of Bursa to Amasya is not certain either: Kınalızâde counts the poet İlmî as the son of this judge from Bursa, Hüsameddin as the son of Abdülhâdî Remzî of the Müeyyedzâde family. In the chain that runs from Sehî's Muslihuddîn to Hüsameddin's Abdülhâdî, then, neither of the two links is certain.

Bibliography

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