Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ġonca-i āl-i ruḫuñ kim açılur ḫarem olur
Gül-i ḫūrşīd ḥicābından erir şeb-nem olur
Hāleveş görmedigüm dem o mehi ‘aynī ile
Gözlerüm ḥalḳa-i der dā’ire-i mātem olur
O bütüñ Ka‘beye teşbīh olunursa rūyı
Reşḥ-i la‘l ile zeneḫdānı çeh-i zemzem olur
Ḫun-ı ṣad-pāre-i dil naḳd-i sirişk ile dü-çeşm
Beñzer ol kīse-i a‘yāna ki pür-dirhem olur
Ḳahramān-ı nigehüñ ḫāṭıra itdikçe ḫuṭūr
Ḫaste-dil şevḳuñ ile Zāl ise de Rüstem olur
Nām-dār-ı reh-i ṣaḥrā-yı muḥabbet olalı
Başdıġum ḫākde naḳş-ı ḳademüm ḫātem olur
Başlarsam nāṭıḳa-pīrā-yı la‘lüñ vaṣfa
Feyż-i ilhāŋ ile Ṣāḥib gibi dil mülhem olur

In English

1. When the bud of your red cheek opens it becomes (a) sanctuary; the rose of the sun melts from shame and turns into dew. (The meaning of the last word of the first line is not certain.)

2. When I do not see that moon with my own eyes (beside me) like a halo, my eyes become a door knocker in the circle of mourning.

3. If the face of that idol is likened to the Kaaba, the dimple of his chin becomes the well of Zamzam with the drops oozing from his ruby lip.

4. With the blood of the heart in a hundred pieces and the coin of tears, the two eyes resemble the purse of the notables, full of dirhams.

5. As the hero of your glance comes to mind, the one with the sick heart, even if he were Zal, becomes Rustam through love of you.

6. Since I became famous on the road of the desert of love, the print of my foot on the ground I tread becomes a seal.

7. If I begin to describe your ruby lip that adorns speech, through the bounty of inspiration the heart is inspired like Sâhib.

Literary and Historical Commentary

In the sixth couplet a link is made between fame and the seal. "Nām-dār" means famous, one whose name is known; a seal too is a ring stone with a name engraved on it. Since the lover has won fame in the desert of love, wherever he steps his footprint presses his name into the ground like a seal. The charm of the couplet lies in the likeness between the way a footprint is left and the way a seal is pressed onto paper.

The other couplets of the ghazal renew familiar images through unexpected connections. In the second couplet the halo (hâle) around the moon turns into a door knocker: the eyes of the lover who cannot see the beloved are like the ring hanging on the door of a house in mourning. The third couplet draws out the consequences of likening the beloved's face to the Kaaba: if the face is the Kaaba, the dimple of the chin, filled with drops oozing from the lip, is the well of Zamzam. In couplet four the two eyes full of blood and tears resemble the notables' purses full of dirhams; tears become coins here. In the fifth couplet father and son of the Shahnameh, Zal and Rustam, appear side by side to express the power of love to turn an old man into a hero.

In the second line of the first couplet the rose of the sun melts with shame before the beloved's cheek and turns into dew; this relation between sun and dew also appears in other ghazals of Sâhib. The meaning of the word "ḫarem" at the end of the first line is not clear. In the T. 1710/6 copy the second line of the first couplet differs.

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. 115, ghazal 19 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 17a; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 5b; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 9a). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources