Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün

Ḥaẕer it tīz-i zebān olma ṣaḳın mīḫ gibi
Kimsenüñ cevr ile delme cigerin sīḫ gibi
Naẓar it ‘āḳıbet-i ḥāline taḳvīmāsā
Geçmiş aḥvālini ẕikr itme tevārīḫ gibi
Dilleri ḥarf-i telaṭṭuf gibi tefrīḥ eyle
İtme āzürde ṣaḳın kimseyi tevbīḫ gibi
Mis-i āmālüñi zer itmek ise maḳṣūduñ
Pūte-i himmete gir zībaḳ u zirnīḫ gibi
Nev-ẓuhūrān-ı zamān şāḫ-ṣıfat rif‘atde
Aṣl olan ḫākde bī-ḳadr yatur bīḫ gibi
Eyledüñ ġamzeñ ile ‘ālemi tesḫīr ey meh
Çarḫa aş şimden gerü tīġüñi Mirrīḫ gibi
Ṣāḥib ol maṭla‘-ı pākīze-i naẓm-ı ḥüsnüñ
Sür yüzüñ pāyına düş mıṣra‘-ı tārīḫ gibi

In English

1. Beware, do not be sharp-tongued like a nail; do not pierce anyone's liver with cruelty like a skewer.

2. Look to the end of your state as an almanac does; do not keep recounting past events like the chronicles.

3. Gladden hearts like a kindly word; take care not to hurt anyone like a rebuke.

4. If your aim is to turn the copper of your hopes into gold, enter the crucible of aspiration like quicksilver and orpiment.

5. The upstarts of the age stand high like branches, while the one of noble root lies worthless in the earth like a root.

6. O moon, you have conquered the world with your glance; from now on hang up your sword in the heavens like Mars.

7. Sâhib, fall like the line of a chronogram at the feet of the pure matla of the poem of beauty, and rub your face there.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The last couplet of the ghazal glances at the chronograms that Sâhib himself wrote. In a chronogram, which gives the year of an event through the numerical values of its letters, the line bearing the date stands at the very end of the poem, in the place of its "foot". The head of a poem is its matla. The poet likens beauty to a poem and tells the lover to fall like the line of a chronogram at the feet of the beloved, who is the matla of that poem. Sâhib's divan contains thirteen chronograms, and this couplet shows how well he knew the genre from within.

Most of the ghazal is counsel given through likenesses drawn from objects. The second couplet compares the almanac with books of history: the almanac looks ahead to coming days, while histories tell of the past. A man too should consider his end as an almanac does, and not keep dwelling on the past. In couplet one the nail and the skewer, and in couplet three the kindly word and the rebuke, form a warning against a sharp tongue.

The fourth couplet uses the language of alchemy. To turn base metals such as copper into gold, alchemists melted substances like quicksilver (zîbak) and orpiment in the crucible. The poet turns this process into moral counsel: whoever would turn the copper of his hopes into gold must dare to enter the crucible of aspiration. Couplet five holds a social observation: the upstarts of the age have risen high like the branches of a tree, while old families lie under the earth like its roots. In Sâhib's ghazal 90, too, noble hearths are said to be scattered by the wind of time.

Mars (Mirrîh) in couplet six was counted in old astronomy the planet of war and was pictured with a sword in hand; the beloved hanging up her sword in the heavens like Mars means turning to the sky after conquering the world.

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. 212, ghazal 110 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 35a; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 17b; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 23b). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources