Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ûlü Fâ‘ilâtü Mefâ‘îlü Fâ‘ilün

Birdir safâ-yı vasl ü safâ bir değilse de
Birdir cefâ-yı hicr ü cefâ bir değilse de
Bâlâ ve zîri bir görürüm fart-ı neşveden
Birdir gözümde arz ü semâ bir değilse de
Birleşdi renk-i zülf ü benâgûş nazrada
Birdir bana sabah ü mesâ bir değilse de
Bîmâr-ı aşkım istemem aslâ ‘ilâc-ı derd
Birdir yanımda derd ü devâ bir değilse de
Rüşdî suhân-şinâs bilir tarz ü şîvesin
Birdir edâ-yı şi’r ü edâ bir değilse de

In English

1. The joy of union and joy may not be the same thing, yet to me they are one; the torment of separation and torment may not be the same thing, yet they are one.

2. From the excess of rapture and intoxication I see above and below as one; earth and sky may not be one, yet in my eyes they are one.

3. As I gazed, the colour of the beloved's curls and the colour of the face beside the ear ran together; morning and evening may not be one, yet to me they are one. (Black curls evoke the night, the white face the morning.)

4. I am sick with love and want no cure at all for my pain; pain and remedy may not be one, yet beside me they are one.

5. Rüşdî, who understands words, knows this style and manner: the manner of poetry and manner may not be one, yet they are one. (The couplet can be read in two ways: "edâ" means both manner of expression and the paying of a debt or fulfilment of a duty; the poet may also mean that the manner of his verse and the conduct of his life are one.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a ghazal (gazel) of five couplets. The refrain word (redif) is "bir değilse de" ("even if not one"), and the rhyme is the "-â" sound in "safâ, cefâ, semâ, mesâ, devâ, edâ". Both lines of the opening couplet end with the same rhyme and refrain, and the pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet as "Rüşdî". According to Mücahit Kaçar the ghazal is written in the aruz (quantitative metre) pattern "Mef‘ûlü Fâ‘ilâtü Mefâ‘îlü Fâ‘ilün". The only known source of the ghazal is Fatîn Dâvud's biographical anthology of poets (tezkire) Hâtimetü'l-eş'âr; Hüsameddin says he copied the text from this tezkire. The text given in TEİS with a reference to Fatîn differs in a few places: the first line of the second couplet is read there as "Bâlâ vezîri", but metre and sense support the reading "Bâlâ ve zîri" (above and below). The other differences ("hecr", "binâgûş", "sühan-şinâs") are matters of spelling. Hüsameddin's text has been followed here.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The whole structure of the ghazal rests on one idea: things known to be opposite or separate become one in the eyes of a poet in love and rapture. Each couplet names a pair: union and separation, earth and sky, morning and evening, pain and cure. These pairs are linked by antithesis, and the way every line begins with "Birdir" ("it is one") and ends with "bir değilse de" ("even if not one") gives the poem, through the repetition of the same words, the feel of a refrain. In the first couplet, in the phrases "safâ-yı vasl ü safâ" and "cefâ-yı hicr ü cefâ", the same word is used first within a genitive construction and then on its own. With this the poet says that for him there is no difference between the joy of union and any joy, or between the torment of separation and any torment.

The phrase "fart-ı neşve" (excess of rapture or high spirits) in the second couplet speaks the language of the wine gathering. Hüsameddin's description of the pasha as "of libertine temperament" and "very fond of wine and beauties" fits this couplet. The third couplet uses a well-known image of divan poetry: black curls are likened to night, the white face and the cheek beside the ear to morning. Since the colours of curls and face run together in the gaze, it is natural that morning and evening should become one too; the two elements of the first line correspond in order to the two elements of the second. The fourth couplet treats the image of the lover who does not want to be freed from the pain of love; for pain and remedy to be one also means that the pain is itself the remedy. The last couplet is the poet's word about his own verse: the "suhân-şinâs" (connoisseur of words) grasps the subtlety of this style.

The idea of the unity of opposites also holds an important place in Sufism. Considering that Rüşdî was the son of a Naqshbandi sheikh, the ghazal could be said to be open to such a reading as well; but there is no explicit Sufi reference in the poem, and this interpretation is our own inference. The language of the ghazal carries rather the voice of a libertine gathering of pleasure.

Historical Context

When the ghazal was written is not known. Fatîn Efendi was one of the well-known poets and teachers of the Tanzimat period; Ziya Pasha, too, relates that he learned aruz and the craft of poetry from him. That Rüşdî's poem found its way into Fatîn's tezkire shows his ties with the poetic circles of Istanbul in his younger years. Hüsameddin quotes the ghazal from Fatîn while writing the pasha's biography in the tenth volume of his History of Amasya, and immediately afterwards says that, because the ghazal "awakened an opening in his temperament", he composed a tahmis on it on the spot. This tahmis, signed with the pen name Asrî, has its own page in the category Asrî (Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar). For the poet's life see Rüşdî (Şirvânîzâde Mehmed Rüşdü Pasha).

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