Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Şeb-i zülfinde kalanlar zulemât ile yürür
İrişen leblerüne âb-ı hayât ile yürür
Zâhidi hayret-i mey şöyle za'îf eyledi kim
Elde tesbîh ü asâsı salavât ile yürür
Remzîyâ kaddine benzer nice serv ola ki ol
Salınur şîveler ile harekât ile yürür
Yüzlerin Hakka tutup nâliş ider hûr u melek
Geh görürdük anı yâ Rabb ne sıfat ile yürür
Hüsn ser-nâmesine olalı kaşları nişân
Hükm ider âşıkına sanki berât ile yürür

In English

1. Those who remain in the night of your hair walk in darkness; those who reach your lips walk with the water of life, the water of immortality.

2. Bewilderment from wine (in all the other sources: longing for wine) has so weakened the ascetic that he walks with rosary and staff in hand, murmuring blessings on the Prophet.

3. O Remzî, how could there be a cypress like that stature, for that one (the beloved) sways with coquetries and walks with graceful movements.

4. Houris and angels turn their faces to God and lament: "O Lord, if only we could see her, with what grace she walks." (The line can be read in two ways; see the commentary below.)

5. Ever since her eyebrows became the imperial monogram at the head of the decree of beauty, she rules over her lover; she walks as if holding a royal warrant (berat).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Of Remzî's poems this is the one that passed into the most sources, and Beyânî and Kınalızâde introduce it as "gazel-i pür-iştihâr", a ghazal (gazel) on everyone's lips. The longest text, five couplets, is Beyânî's, and it is the one printed here. Sehî Bey gives the first, second and fifth couplets; the manuscript marked Ü in the edition adds the couplets "Ellerin göge tutup nâliş ider serv ü çenâr / Ki göreydüñ anı yâ Rab ne sıfât ile yürür" and "Pîriyâ kaddine beñzer nice serv ola ki ol / Salınur şîveler eyler harekât ile yürür". Kınalızâde records the first three couplets, Latîfî only the ascetic couplet, and Hüsameddin, quoting Mecdî, the first two. The poem runs on the redif (refrain word) "ile yürür", while the rhyme gathers in the sound "-ât" in the words zulemât, hayât, salavât, harekât, sıfat and berât. That the pen-name (mahlas) couplet stands third in Beyânî does not fit the usual order; it was not possible to establish the original order of the couplets from the sources. The appearance of the pen name as "Pîriyâ" in one manuscript confirms Latîfî's remark that the pasha sometimes used his own name as his pen name.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet (matla) divides the legend of the water of life between its two lines. The water of immortality is sought in the land of darkness, Zulumât; the beloved's hair is the night, her lip that water. Whoever stays in the hair wanders in the dark, whoever reaches the lip finds the water. The second couplet is the most often repeated in the ghazal and is a jest at the expense of the pious: the ascetic has grown so thin from longing for the wine he does not drink that he can walk only by leaning on his rosary and staff and saying his prayers. Rosary and staff are the marks of his piety; in the poet's hand they become the props of his frailty. Beyânî's reading "hayret-i mey", though it means the bewilderment that wine brings, gives the couplet a weaker sense; the word "hasret", longing, on which Sehî, Latîfî, Kınalızâde and Hüsameddin agree, completes the joke.

The second line of the fourth couplet can be read in two ways. "Geh" means sometimes, at times, and the line can also be understood as "at times we used to see her, O Lord, with what grace she walks"; one may think of houris and angels recalling a beauty they can no longer see. The wording "Ki göreydüñ anı" in Sehî's manuscript is a sentence of longing and admiration. The last couplet carries the most original image of the ghazal. The eyebrows are likened to the imperial monogram (tuğra) drawn at the head of a decree, and the beloved's beauty to the decree itself; whoever bears such a warrant rules over the lover as she pleases. The words ser-nâme (heading of a document), nişan (monogram), berat (warrant) and hüküm (command) are taken from the language of the imperial chancery. That a poet who spent his life as clerk, treasurer and grand vizier chose these images may not be an accident; the sources do not draw this connection.

Historical Context

No date is attached to the ghazal, but when Sehî Bey completed his anthology in 1538, six years after the pasha's death, it was already well known; Sehî ties it directly to his description of the pasha and says that his verse was fine "in the way of the proverb". That the ascetic couplet passed from hand to hand like a proverb supports this judgement. The pasha's life and the debate on his birthplace are in the article Remzî (Pîrî Mehmed Pasha).

Bibliography

Primary sources

Official sources

Online sources