Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün

İtdi seḥāb ḫaṭ-ı meh-i ruḫsārı muḫtefī
Ẓāhir budur ki şeb olıcaḳ mihr olur ḫafī
Ekṡer du‘ā ki şebde icābet ḳarīn olur
Nezdīkdür viṣāle bütānuñ müzellefi
Ebrū-yı dil-güşā ki odur ṣuffe-i cemāl
Sulṭan-ı ḥüsnüñ oldı mekān-ı müşerrefi
Bir ṣanma sehm-i ḥüsn-i civānı zenān ile
[okunamadı] nāḳıṣ añlama ḳadr-i muża‘afı
Zer kim cihānda maẓhar-ı ism-i ‘azīzdür
Ṣāḥib odur mi‘ādınuñ anuñçün eşrefi

In English

1. The cloud of down has hidden the moon of the cheek; it is plain that when night comes the sun becomes hidden.

2. Most prayers are answered at night; those idols (whose night of down) has drawn near are close to union. "Müzellef" in the second line has been read in its sense "brought near"; the word also calls up the name of Muzdalifa, but which sense is meant is not certain.

3. The heart-opening brow, being the dais of beauty, has become the honoured seat of the sultan of beauty.

4. Do not think the share of the youths' beauty is equal to that of women; (……) do not think the worth of what is doubled less. Since the word at the head of the line could not be read, the couplet cannot be fully understood.

5. Sâhib, gold, being in this world the manifestation of the name "Azîz" (the Precious, the Mighty), is for that reason the noblest of metals.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The fourth couplet reads like a jest born of Sâhib's learning as judge and mufti, but since the beginning of its second line could not be read in the thesis, no firm judgement can be made. "Sehm" is both an arrow and a share in an inheritance; "muzâ‘af" means doubled. In Islamic inheritance law the male share is twice the female. The poet asks that the youths' share of beauty not be held equal to that of women, and that the worth of "what is doubled" not be thought less. The sense "arrow" of the word sehm also recalls the arrows of glances that beauty shoots at the lover.

The first two couplets are built on the same darkness. The down is a cloud and covers the moon of the cheek; this is as plain as the sun's vanishing when night comes. The second couplet gives night another value: most prayers are answered at night. The beloved whose down has grown, whose "night has come", has thus come near to union. The word "müzellef" in the edition means "brought near" in Arabic, and it also recalls the name of Muzdalifa, where pilgrims spend the night before the morning of the feast.

The final couplet praises gold. "Azîz" is one of the names of God, but in everyday language it also means "precious, dear"; since gold is the worldly appearance of this name, it is counted the noblest of metals. The "suffe" of the third couplet means a raised seat or dais; the brow is this seat of honour of the sultan of beauty.

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. 208, ghazal 106 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 34a; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 17a; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 24a). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources