Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün

Âh kim sevdim diyü ol mâh-rûy-ı enveri
Başıma ol dem nihâd oldı belânıň efseri

In English

1. Alas, because I loved that most radiant moon-faced one, at that very moment the crown of calamity was set upon my head.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The couplet is the opening of a ghazal and is written in the pattern "fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün"; the identification of the metre is ours. The rhyme is the sound "-eri" in the words "enveri" and "efseri"; no separate redif is visible in the opening couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The kernel of the couplet is that the price of loving is calamity set on the head like a crown. "Mâh-rûy", moon-faced, conveys the beloved's radiance; "enver", most luminous, carries this radiance to its highest degree. "Belânıň efseri", the crown of calamity, in the second line builds a subtle contrast: a crown is a sign of honour and sovereignty, yet the crown placed on the lover's head is a misfortune. Within the divan view that counts the pain of love as the lover's distinction, this crown can also be read as a rank; this reading is ours. The phrase "ol dem", at that moment, stresses that the confession of love and the disaster came at the same time.

Historical Context

The couplet is taken from the Merzifon Cönkü published by Metin Hakverdioğlu in 2019. Hakverdioğlu acquired this manuscript miscellany from Merzifon for his own library and found that a separate ghazal section of the cönk is devoted to Sabrî's poems. Since the article gives only the first stanza of each poem in the cönk, we cannot see the poem beyond this couplet. Hakverdioğlu notes that the poem appears on page 23 of Orhan Bilgin's 1992 edition of the divan; its place in the cönk is page 76. Because Bilgin's book could not be consulted, the full text cannot be given here. The cönk is thought to have been compiled by a Merzifon poet from Sabrî's circle, most probably Fethî; the inclusion of the poem in this compilation shows that Sabrî's verses were still read in Merzifon after his death. For the poet's life and his other poems see the article Eyüb Sabrî.

Bibliography

Online sources