Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefā‘ilün fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün

O teşneyüm yeme baḳsam serāb olur peydā
Bu baḫt ile ele mey alsam āb olur peydā
Bu kim sitāre ile düzd-i tīre-cūy olsam
Şeb-i maḥāḳ ise de māh-tāb olur peydā
Ḫadeng-i ġamẓe-i dil-ber-mis̱āl çeşm-i laṭīf
Ḥiṣār-ı āhına doġrulsa bāb olur peydā
Tebessümüñle beni güldür öldür aġyārı
Bu az ‘amelde saña çoḳ s̱evāb olur peydā
Taḳātur itdi ruḫ-ı yārdan ‘araḳ Ṣāḥib
Şu berg-i gül gibi k’andan gül-āb olur peydā

In English

1. I am so thirsty that if I look at the sea a mirage appears; with this fortune, if I take wine in hand it turns to water.

2. Were I, with this star (this luck), a thief seeking darkness, moonlight would appear even on a night when the moon is hidden.

3. If the arrow of the glance of a delicate eye like the beloved's were aimed at the fortress of his sigh, a gate would open (in it). (The connection of the couplet is not fully clear.)

4. Make me laugh with your smile, kill the rivals; from this small deed much merit will come to you.

5. Sâhib, sweat dripped from the beloved's cheek; just like this rose petal, from which rosewater comes.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The ghazal section of the divan opens with the voice of a poet laughing at his own fate. The first two couplets turn ill luck into hyperbole: the poet is so thirsty that if he looks at the sea he sees a mirage, and if he takes wine in hand it turns to water; were he a thief seeking darkness, moonlight would rise even on the "maḥāḳ" night when the moon does not appear. Both couplets are built on the same logic: what is wanted turns into its opposite at the very moment it is wanted. Witticisms of this kind about bad luck fit Topal's observation that Sâhib gives ample room in his ghazals to folk expressions, idioms and pithy sayings.

After the third couplet the ghazal (gazel) turns to the beloved. The fourth couplet strikes a bargain of good deeds: by smiling, the beloved will make the lover laugh, the same smile will kill the rivals with grief, and this "small deed" will earn him great merit. The pen-name couplet makes use of the make-up of the word "gül-āb" (rosewater, literally rose-water): the beloved's cheek is a rose petal, and the sweat dripping from it becomes rosewater. Three of the rhyme words in "-āb" (serāb, āb, gül-āb) have to do with water; the ghazal thus closes the thirst of the first line with the rosewater of the last couplet.

Topal established the text by comparing three manuscripts; in the Istanbul University T. 738 copy the fourth couplet begins "nigāhuñla" (with your glance) instead of "tebessümüñle", turning the meaning of the couplet from a smile to a glance. The ghazal opens the section of the letter elif in the divan.

Bibliography

  • Meral Topal, Pîrî-zâde Mehmed Sâhib Hayatı, Edebî Kişiliği, Eserleri ve Divanı'nın Tenkitli Metni, MA thesis, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Elazığ 2004, p. 92, ghazal 1 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 11b; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 2b; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 5a); also p. 7 (style). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources