Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün

Dil-i ‘āşıḳda kim her çend ümmīd-i vefā artar
Güzellerden o deñlü şīve-i cevr ü cefā artar
Cefā itdikce ol şeh baña artar sīnede şevḳüm
Ne mümkin şāh-ı ‘ādil olsa ehlinde ṣafā artar
Dü-bālā oldı ḥüsnüñ rūyuña geldikde ḫaṭṭ zīrā
Ziyād olsa fitīl-i şem‘ elbette żiyā artar
Olur şevḳüm füzūn aldıḳca şeftālū ‘iẕārından
Bu bir ḫān-ı ṣafādur kim yedikce iştihā artar
Ḫaṭuñ devrinde ger seyl-i sirişküm n’ola artarsa
Bahār irdikde ‘ādetdür ki ṣular dā’imā artar
Füzūn olduḳça ḥüsnüñ dem-be-dem artar ġam-ı ‘aşḳum
Kimüñ kim malı artar böyledür renc ü ‘anā artar
Olur ‘aşḳum füzūn ol maāhdan mehcūr olduḳca
Ki devr olduḳca mihrüñ nūrı māhuñ Ṣāḥibā artar

In English

1. However much the hope of faithfulness grows in the lover's heart, so much grows the beauties' manner of cruelty and torment.

2. As that king torments me, the longing in my breast grows; how could it be otherwise, if a king is just, the joy of his people grows.

3. When the down came to your face your beauty was doubled; for if the wick of a candle is greater, its light surely grows.

4. My longing increases the more I take (kisses) from your peach cheek; this is a table of delight where appetite grows with eating.

5. What wonder if the flood of my tears grows in the season of your down; it is the custom that when spring comes the waters always rise.

6. As your beauty increases, the grief of my love grows at every moment; so it is for anyone whose wealth grows: his trouble and toil grow too.

7. O Sâhib, my love increases the longer I am parted from that moon; for as (the sky) turns, the moon's light from the sun grows.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The ghazal with the redif (refrain word) "artar" (grows) is a series of proportions linking one increase to another in every couplet. Topal cites the first two couplets among the examples showing that the most distinctive trait of Sâhib's beloved is cruelty: the more the lover hopes for faithfulness, the more the beloved increases his torment, but the more the beloved torments, the more the lover's longing grows. The second line of the second couplet contrasts this reversal with a political thought: the people of a just king are happy, whereas in the land of love cruelty binds the lover all the more.

The middle of the ghazal proceeds with proofs taken from everyday life and nature. The down does not darken the face; on the contrary it doubles its beauty, just as a candle with a thicker wick gives more light. Couplet four plays on "şeftālū", which means both peach and, in divan poetry, a kiss; Sâhib adds to it the saying that appetite grows with eating. Topal gives the fifth couplet among those resting on idioms and proverbs: the down comes like a spring, in spring the waters overflow, and the lover's tears increase. In the sixth couplet the idea that whoever's wealth grows also sees his troubles grow rests on a common observation.

The pen-name couplet rests on the knowledge that the moon takes its light from the sun: as the moon moves away from the sun it approaches the full and its light grows; so too the lover's love grows the longer he is apart from the beloved.

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. 107, ghazal 13 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 15b; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 4b; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 7b); also p. 7 (couplet 5) and p. 25 (couplets 1 and 2). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources