Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Vaṣf-ı ḫaṭṭuñ yazan ehl-i raḳam olmaz da n’olur
Naḳş iden ḥüsnüñi nāzik-ḳalem olmaz da n’olur
Būs-ı la‘l-i lebüñe ṭālib olan bī-çāre
Sālik-i rāh-ı diyār-ı ‘adem olmaz da n’olur
Başma zinhār ṣaḳın dā’ire-i devlete pā
Dā’ire-i ele-ḫūr(?) dest-i ġam olmaz da n’olur
Āmed ü reft-i merāma olanuñ şād u ḥazīn
Cezr ü medd gibi ġamı bīş ü kem olmaz da n’olur
Dāġ-ı ‘aşḳ itdi velī rāyic-i bāzār-ı kemāl
Sikke tervīc-fezā-yı derem olmaz da n’olur
Kesdi ġam bābını dilden geleli ġamze-i yār
Öyle şemşīr-i güzīn ḫoş-ḳadem olmaz da n’olur
Pey-rev-i dādī-i Nābi Raḥīmi olanuñ
Ṣāḥibā böyle sözi muntażam olmaz da n’olur

In English

1. How could the one who writes the description of your down not be a master of script? How could the one who paints your beauty not have a delicate pen?

2. How could the helpless one who seeks to kiss the ruby of your lip not become a traveller on the road to the land of nonexistence?

3. Beware, never set foot in the circle of state office; how could that circle not be ... of the hand of grief? (The edition reads one word in the line with a question mark.)

4. How could the grief of one who rejoices and grieves with the coming and going of his wishes not rise and fall like the tide?

5. The brand of love has become the current coin of the market of perfection; how could (that) coin not be money that adds value to the dirham? (The meaning of the second line is not fully clear.)

6. Since the beloved's glance came, it has cut the door of grief from the heart; how could so choice a sword not be of good omen?

7. O Sâhib, how could the words of one who follows the way of Nâbî and Rahîmî not be so well ordered?

Literary and Historical Commentary

The redif (refrain word) "olmaz da n'olur" (how could it not be, that is, of course it is) ties the end of every couplet to an emphasis of certainty. The most frequently cited couplet of the ghazal is the pen-name couplet. Topal says that in this couplet Sâhib states that he follows the way of Nâbî and praises his own poetry; taking Nâbî's poetry as a model is also the source of Sâhib's sententious manner. Together with Nâbî the name "Rahîmî" also appears in the line; the edition gives no information about this person.

The third couplet carries the gravest advice of the ghazal: beware, never set foot in the "circle of state", for how could that circle not be in the hand of grief. Topal points to this couplet as the place where Sâhib speaks of the danger of holding a position in the government of the state. That this advice comes from the pen of a statesman who was twice exiled, dismissed from the office of şeyhülislam and sent to the Hejaz gives the couplet a weight of its own; but since it is not known in which years the ghazal was written, this link remains an inference. Topal also gives the second couplet as an example of the lover who, wishing to reach divine love, takes the road of nonexistence.

The fourth couplet draws a comparison from the language of the sea: the grief of one who rejoices and grieves as his wishes come and go rises and falls like the tide. In the sixth couplet the beloved's glance is a sword that cuts the door of grief in the heart; it is a "ḫoş-ḳadem", an auspiciously arrived, sword.

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. 108, ghazal 14 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 15b; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 4b; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 11b); also p. 3 (couplet 7), p. 16 (couplet 2) and p. 23 (couplet 3). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014
  • Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 11, pp. 229-232 (e-book pp. 427-428), "Sâhib Mehmed Efendi-Pîrîzâde" entry. https://amasya.bel.tr/uploads/e-kitap/kitap/9-12/files/basic-html/page427.html

Online sources