Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Sāḳī serv-i ḫırāmānuñ yine ra‘nā-revişi
Eyledi vālih ü şeydā dil-i ‘āḳil-menişi
Ṣūret uġrusı dimek oldı sezā mir’ata
Çünki āyīnecilik ṣuretidür gösterişi
Dehen-i dīde-i ter oldı dür-i eşk ile pür
Ṭıfl-ı nev-sāl yedi yaşına girüp bitdi dişi
Olma ṣaṭranc-ṣıfat āt u bisāṭa mā’il
Çün bu bāzīçegehüñ eñ soñ olur mātı kişi
Seng-i ṭa‘na serini ṭutdı yoluñda Ṣāḥib
Hep aña ḫalḳuñ anuñçündür olan serzenişi

In English

1. O cupbearer, the graceful gait of the swaying cypress has once again made the heart of sober temper bewildered and mad.

2. To call the mirror a thief of images is fitting, since the display of the mirror-maker's art is nothing but image.

3. The mouth of the wet eye has filled with pearls of tears; it is as if a young child had entered his seventh year and cut his teeth.

4. Do not, like a chessman, give your heart to horse and board; for at the very end of this playground a man is checkmated.

5. On your road Sâhib held his head out to the stone of reproach; all the people's "serzeniş" (striking at the head) is aimed at him for that reason.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Couplet three is built on one of the everyday observations Sâhib liked. When tears line up like pearls between the eyelids, the wet eye resembles a mouth with new teeth. The poet ties this likeness to a child's growing up: the child entering his seventh year has cut his teeth. That the permanent teeth begin to come at about this age is a thing known from everyday life, and the couplet joins this knowledge to the pearls of tears. One copy reads "idi" (was) for "yedi" (seven) and so removes the number.

The fourth couplet repeats the chess counsel of the first couplet of ghazal 99. "At" is both a riding horse and the knight in chess; "bisât" is both a carpet or bedding and the chessboard. The world is a playground, and at the end of the game one is checkmated; the word "mat" also means amazed, bewildered in Persian. In this single word the poet gathers the end of giving one's heart to wealth and rank, to horse and furnishings.

At the close the word "serzeniş" is taken apart into its pieces. Today serzeniş is used for reproach; in its Persian make-up it means "striking the head". Sâhib has held his head out to the stone of reproach, and the people's serzeniş, their striking at his head, comes from this. The second couplet plays on the word "sûret" too: the mirror steals images, but the display of the mirror-maker's art is itself nothing but image, mere outward show.

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. 213, ghazal 111 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 35a; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 17b; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 25a). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources