Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâʿîlün mefâʿîlün mefâʿîlün mefâʿîlün (metre identified by us)

Duyurmuş bezm-i meyde âşıkın râz-ı dilin hayfâ
Sana ey mest-i nâzım boşboğazlık eylemiş mînâ
İzârın mihre rûyın mühre hâlin necme benzetdim
Yine teşbîhde noksân vardır afv kıl cânâ
Sürûrundan begüm ‘îd-i dü-bâlâ eyler uşşâkın
Gelürsen külbe-i ahzânına ağyârdan tenhâ
Yanında aşka dâ’ir sohbet açdık söz dokundurduk
Beyân etdik hele tafsîl-i hâlî yâre icmâlâ
Ruhun şevkiyle kan tutmuş gül-i ra’nâyı gülşende
Hezârı eylemiş aşkın senin Rıfat gibi şeydâ

In English

1. Alas, at the wine gathering the decanter has let out the secret of the lover's heart; O my coquettish drunken one, it has been loose-mouthed to you.

2. I likened your cheek to the sun, your face to a polished bead, your mole to a star; still there is something wanting in the comparison, forgive me, beloved.

3. My lord, if you come alone, away from the rivals, to the hut of sorrows, your lovers will keep a double feast for joy of you.

4. Beside you we opened a talk of love and let our words touch on it (hinted without saying it outright); we told the beloved the details of our state in brief.

5. Longing for your cheek has turned the two-coloured rose in the garden to blood; love of you has made the nightingale (hezâr) mad, like Rif'at.

Literary and Historical Commentary

From an Anthology to Hüsameddin

The ghazal's journey is as interesting as the text itself. Rif'at's divan, according to Hüsameddin, was in the hands of his son Hacı Lutfullah Efendi; but Hüsameddin had not seen that copy. He took the ghazal from a sheet sent to him by the teacher Kilisli Rıfat Efendi, who had copied it from an anthology of selected poems in the Rıza Paşa library in Istanbul. That he calls Kilisli Rıfat "our brother" shows the closeness between the two scholars. This is the only known text of the ghazal, and since the anthology's shelf mark is not given it cannot be compared with another copy.

The Talkative Decanter

The opening couplet gives a witty turn to a familiar scene of the drinking party. The "mînâ" is a glass decanter; the wine inside can be seen, and it makes a sound as it is poured. The poet ties both features to the habits of a gossip: the decanter has carried the lover's secret to the beloved, it has been "boşboğaz", loose-mouthed. The word suits a decanter whose mouth is left empty as it is poured out. The second couplet uses an old turn of speech that confesses the inadequacy of simile: the cheek is likened to the sun, the mole to a star. The word "mühre" in the edition means a polished bead or burnishing stone; beside sun and star one would expect "mâh", the moon. Whether this is a misprint or the poet's choice cannot be decided.

The fourth couplet rests on the contrast between "tafsîl" and "icmâl", detail and summary: the details of the lover's state are told in brief. In the closing couplet "hezâr" means both nightingale and a thousand; the gül-i ra'nâ is the two-coloured rose, red inside and yellow outside. The rose's redness is tied to longing for the beloved's cheek, and the nightingale's lament to Rif'at's madness. The Gürcüzâde family and his years as a secretary in Osman Paşa's household are told in Rif'at Mehmed Efendi (Gürcüzâde).

Bibliography

Online sources