Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Gülistân içre bülbül saldı nâle
Ele rindâne gül aldı piyâle
Seher bezm ehline mânend-i bâde
Dehânın goncenün pür itdi jâle
Yine câm-ı ferah-bahşıyla sâkî
Gam-ı devrânı dilden kıl izâle
Sebeb ne nergis-i mestün dem-â-dem
İdersin kanum içmege cevâle
Bu gün ey gonce-fem şevk-i ruhunla
Çemen etrâfı toldı âh u nâle
Bana bezm-i mahabbetde habîbüm
Yeter endîşe-i la’lün piyâle
Günehsüz öldürüp Şâhî muhibbün
Benüm çok sevdügüm girme vebâle

In English

1. In the rose garden the nightingale has begun to moan; the rose, like a carefree drinker, has taken a cup in her hand.

2. At dawn the dew, like wine served to the people of the gathering, has filled the mouth of the rosebud.

3. O cupbearer, once again with your gladdening cup remove the sorrow of the times from the heart.

4. Your drunken narcissus eye keeps roaming every moment to drink my blood; what is the cause?

5. O rosebud-mouthed one, today, with longing for your cheek, all around the meadow is filled with sighs and moans.

6. My beloved, in the gathering of love the thought of your ruby lip is cup enough for me.

7. O you whom I love so much, do not take the burden of sin upon yourself by killing Şâhî, who loves you, without guilt.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The seven-couplet ghazal is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" pattern. It has no redif; the rhyme is the "-âle" sound in "nâle, piyâle, jâle, izâle, cevâle, vebâle". "Nâle" is repeated in the opening and fifth couplets, "piyâle" in the opening and sixth couplets. In the edition there is no folio mark within the text of this ghazal.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens with the picture of a spring gathering. The nightingale has begun to moan, and the rose, like a rind (a free-spirited drinker), has taken a cup in her hand. The likening of the rose's open bowl to a cup is one of the familiar images of divan poetry. In the second couplet the dawn dew fills the mouth of the rosebud; the poet likens this to wine served to the people of the gathering. Every element in nature thus turns into a member of the gathering: the rose is the rind holding the cup, the dew is the wine, and the nightingale is the musician or singer.

In the third couplet the word passes to the cupbearer, who is asked to remove sorrow from the heart. In the fourth couplet the beloved's eye is a drunken narcissus. The dark ring at the centre of the narcissus is likened in divan poetry to the languid, drunken eye. The word "cevâle" in this couplet is obscure; the context suggests that the eye keeps roaming in order to drink blood, and the word may be related to "cevelân", meaning "roaming, going to and fro". This reading is ours.

The fifth and sixth couplets turn the gathering into a gathering of love. All around the meadow is filled with sighs and moans; this sighing echoes again the moan of the nightingale of the opening couplet. In the sixth couplet the lover needs no other cup in the gathering of love; the thought of the ruby lip takes the place of the cup for him. The real cup at the beginning of the ghazal thus turns, at the end, into a cup of the imagination. While the first half of the ghazal has the air of a spring poem, the second half moves to a plea directed at the beloved.

The closing couplet ends with a religious notion. "Vebal" is the burden of sin laid on a person's neck for the harm done to another. The poet asks the beloved not to take this burden upon herself by killing him without guilt. The address "Benüm çok sevdügüm" (you whom I love so much) is a plain and warm expression compared with the ornate addresses of divan poetry.

Bibliography

Online sources