Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Rind-i peymāne-keşe derd ile ṣahbā birdür
‘Ārif-i ser olana lafẓ ile ma‘nā birdür
Rütbe-i ‘aşḳda şāh ile gedā farḳ olmaz
Cümleye mertebe-i seng-i muṣallā birdür
Vaṣlı da firḳati de āteş-i ‘aşḳuñ muḥrik
Teb-zede olana germā ile sermā birdür
Müteferriḳse de fevvāre-i ḫūn-ı her dāġ
Cümlenüñ menba‘ı dildür ser ü pā birdür
Cismümi āteş-i dildür hep iden ḫākister
Ḥāl-i rūḥ ile te’es̱s̱ürde çün ‘ażā birdür
Vaṣf-ı la‘lüñ yazanuñ ḫāmesi nīşger olur
Bunda ḫāṣṣıyyet-i ismiyle müsemmā birdür
Kimi ḫançer didi ebrūsına yārüñ kimi tīġ
İsm ma‘dūd velī beyt-i mu‘ammā birdür
‘Āşıḳa olmaġ ile māye-i sevdā kākül birdür
Anuñ içün ‘aded-i kākül ü sevdā birdür
Ṣuretā olduġı miḥnetle muḥabbet maḫlūṭ
Ṣāḥibā añlama bī-hude ki imlā birdür

In English

1. To the libertine who drains the cup, pain and wine are one; to the gnostic who knows the secret, word and meaning are one.

2. In the rank of love there is no difference between king and beggar; for all, the station of the funeral stone is one.

3. Both the union and the separation of love's fire burn; to one stricken with fever, heat and cold are one.

4. Though the blood fountain of every wound be separate, the source of them all is the heart; head and foot are one.

5. It is the fire of the heart that keeps turning my body to ash; for in being affected, the limbs and the state of the soul are one.

6. The pen of one who describes your ruby lip becomes a sugar cane; here the property of the name and the thing named are one.

7. Some called the beloved's eyebrow a dagger, some a sword; the names are many, but the riddle couplet is one.

8. Since for the lover the leaven of passion is the lovelock, the number of lovelock and passion is one.

9. In appearance love is mixed with affliction; O Sâhib, do not understand it in vain, for their spelling is one.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The redif (refrain word) "birdür" (is one) unites two separate things in every couplet, and the two most skilful couplets of the ghazal find this unity in Arabic script itself. In the eighth couplet the "number" of the lovelock and of passion is one: written in Arabic letters, the abjad (ebced) values of "kākül" (کاکل) and "sevdā" (سودا) each add up to 71. In the last couplet the "spelling" of "miḥnet" (محنت, affliction) and "muḥabbet" (محبت, love) is one: written without dots the two words look the same, and the only difference between them is the dot of a single letter. The poet thus grounds the idea that love is mixed with suffering in a fact of writing. These two calculations and comparisons are ours; Topal does not explain the couplets.

The first couplets tie unity to a mystical thought: to the libertine who drinks from the cup, pain and wine are one, and to the gnostic who knows the secret, word and meaning are one. In the second couplet there is no difference between king and beggar in the rank of love, for the station awaiting them all is the same: the funeral stone (musalla taşı) on which the bier is laid. In the third couplet union and separation are like the heat and cold of a bout of fever; both burn. The sixth couplet tells of the unity of name and named through the instrument of writing: the pen that writes of the beloved's sweet lip turns sweet like a sugar cane. This comparison also appeared in the chronogram written for Hasan Pasha.

The seventh couplet refers to the muamma, a kind of poem built on making the reader find a name hidden by means of letters and numbers: the names given to the eyebrow are many, dagger or sword, but all of them lead to the solution of a single riddle couplet. With nine couplets it is among the longer ghazals of the divan.

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, pp. 111-112, ghazal 17 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 16a; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 5a; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 10b). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources