Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ’îlün Mefâ’îlün Fe’ûlün

Bulurdum gülsitân zevkin şitâda
O gül yüzlüm lebinden sunsa bâde
Seher cânân ile câm içmeyince
Benüm gönlüm gözüm olmaz güşâde
Bezimde var iken mahbûb u bâde
Ne çalar ney-zen ü çengî arada
Kapar keh gibi gönli kehrübâ-veş
‘Acâyib hâssa vardur dil-rübâda
Tolu sun dest-gîr ol câma sâkî
Ayaklansun bu Şâhî-i fütâde

In English

1. If that rose-faced one of mine offered me wine from her lip, I would find the delight of the rose garden even in winter.

2. Unless I drink a cup with the beloved at dawn, neither my heart nor my eye opens.

3. While the beloved and wine are in my gathering, what business have the flute player and the harpist there in between?

4. She snatches the heart as amber snatches a straw; there is a wondrous property in this charmer.

5. O cupbearer, pour the cup full, take him by the hand, so that this fallen Şâhî may rise to his feet.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five-couplet ghazal is written in the "mefâ'îlün mefâ'îlün fe'ûlün" pattern. It has no redif; the rhyme is the "-âde/-âda" sound in "şitâda, bâde, güşâde, arada, dil-rübâda, fütâde". Since the first syllable of "arada" in the third couplet is short, it loosens the rhyme slightly. The word "bâde" (wine) is the rhyme in the second line of the opening couplet and is used within the line in the first line of the third couplet. In the edition the folio mark [51a] stands after the second couplet.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is a short poem of the gathering. The opening couplet begins with a contrast of seasons: if the beloved offers wine from her lip, the lover finds the delight of the rose garden even in the middle of winter. The antithesis between "şitâ" (winter) and "gülsitân" (rose garden) expresses that beside the beloved the season loses its importance. In the second couplet the attribute "güşâde" (open) is tied to both the heart and the eye; without the dawn drink neither of them opens.

The third couplet, with a question, counts the musicians of the gathering superfluous. While the beloved and wine are there, the flute player and the harpist have nothing to do; the word "arada" (in between) at the end of the line hints at the sense of "intruding, being superfluous in between".

The fourth couplet carries the finest wordplay of the ghazal. The word "kehrübâ" (amber) is formed in Persian from "keh" (straw) and "rübâ" (snatching, drawing); when rubbed, amber draws light matter to itself. The poet likens the charmer's snatching of the heart to amber's snatching of a straw, and by placing the word "keh" at the start of the line he lays bare the root of the word. The word "hâssa" (property) also recalls the hidden properties attributed to stones and substances in the old learning of medicine and nature; this last association is our reading.

In the closing couplet the cupbearer is asked to pour the cup full and to be "dest-gîr", that is, to take him by the hand. A congruence of images (tenasüp) is built between "dest-gîr" (one who takes by the hand) and "ayaklanmak" (to rise to one's feet) through the words hand and foot; the attribute "fütâde" (fallen, wretched) completes the image of a fallen man taken by the hand and raised. There is no sign in the ghazal of the addressee's identity or of a date.

Bibliography

Online sources