Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Meclisde boş bulunma pür eyle sebūları
Ṣun ehl-i ‘aşḳa ‘aşḳla sāḳī ṭoluları
Ḥaṣr itme bir civāna dili tāze tāze ṣu
Olur cedīd gözelerüñ ṭatlu ṣuları
Ḳānūn-ı sāzı bozmamaḳ içün kemānçenüñ
Ṭutmuş biri birine ḳulaḳ cümle mūları
Yazdıḳda vaṣfuñ itdigi sehvüñ sücūdıdur
Pīş-i varaḳdaki ḳalemüñ ser-fürūları
Bī-ḫande oldı ḫaṭṭ gelicek la‘l-i dil-rübā
‘Ādet budur ki şebde ḳaparlar ḳapuları
Bir rū-siyāhlıḳla olur ‘āḳıbet şehīr
Kāġıd-miṡāl ḫalḳ-ı zamānuñ dü-rūları
Sevdā-yı būs-ı la‘lini Ṣāḥib alup sere
Ṣahbā-yı ġamla eyleyelüm pür-kedūları

In English

1. Do not be caught off guard in the gathering; fill the pitchers. O cupbearer, offer the brimming cups with love to the people of love.

2. Do not confine your heart to a single youth; (drink) fresh water, ever fresh: the waters of new springs are sweet.

3. So as not to spoil the order (kânûn) of the consort, all the hairs of the kemençe's bow have lent each other an ear (have been tuned by the pegs).

4. As it writes your praise, the pen's bowing and rising before the page are prostrations of forgetfulness (made for its faults).

5. When the down came, the heart-stealing ruby lip ceased to laugh; it is the custom to shut the doors at night.

6. The two-faced people of the age end up, like paper, famous for a blackened face.

7. O Sâhib, taking into our heads the passion for kissing her ruby lip, let us fill the gourds with the wine of grief. ("Kedû", gourd, is a vessel to which the head too is likened.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

The third couplet gathers a whole consort of instruments into one line, and almost every word in it has two senses. "Kânûn" is both the name of an instrument, the zither called kanun, and a word for law and order; "kulak" (ear) is both the human ear and the tuning pegs of stringed instruments; "mû" (hair) is the horsehair of the kemençe's bow. The hairs of the kemençe have "lent each other an ear" so as not to spoil the order of the consort: they listen to one another and they are tuned by the pegs. A couplet that observes so closely the harmony of instruments at a gathering suggests that Sâhib was no stranger to music.

The fourth couplet carries a term of law into the business of writing. The "sehiv secdesi" (prostration of forgetfulness) is the pair of prostrations made at the end of the ritual prayer to make up for a mistake committed in it. The pen bows and rises over the page as it writes; the poet likens this movement to prostrations of forgetfulness made for the faults committed in writing the beloved's praise. Admitting from the start that the praise will fall short, the couplet is a modest jest a poet aims at his own pen.

In couplet six paper, having two faces, is the emblem of two-facedness; the more is written on it, the blacker its face grows. Two-faced people likewise end up famous for a blackened face. In couplet five the down is likened once more to night: when night falls doors are shut, and when the down comes the lip no longer laughs. The second couplet, in a libertine mood, recommends variety in love: sweet water is found at new springs.

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. 215, ghazal 113 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 35b; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 18a; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 25a). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources