Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Sīnesin kim nāz ile açup o dil-ber gösterir
Ṣan şikāf-ı ebrde ḫurşīd-i enver gösterir
Gerden-i billūrı şöyle ṣāfdur kim içse mey
Āb-ı ḫuşk içre nümāyān āteş ter gösterir
Oldı ḫaṭṭla müstevī rūz-ı viṣāl şām-bā-seher
Çün şeb ü rūzı bahār elbet ber-ā-ber gösterir
Sīneme geldikde mihmān-ı ḫadeng-i ġamzesi
Cān çıḳar ta‘ẓīm ü istiḳbāline yer gösterir
Nūr-ı feyż-i şevḳle dilde ḫayāl-i rūy-ı yār
Hāle-i āġūş-ı mehde mihr ü ḫāver gösterir
Her ḳaçan olsa tebessümle o meh-i dendān-nümā
Ḥoḳḳa-i yāḳūt içinde dürr ü gevher gösterir
‘Azm-i çīn itmek diler Ṣāḥib meger kim ey perī
Anuñ içün zülfüñi şi‘rinde eks̱er gösterir

In English

1. When that charmer opens and shows his breast with coquetry, it is as if he shows the shining sun in a rift in the cloud.

2. His crystal neck is so clear that if he drinks wine, it shows wet fire visible within dry water.

3. With the down, evening and morning have become equal on the day of union; for spring surely shows night and day as equal.

4. When the arrow of his glance comes to my breast as a guest, the soul goes out to receive it with respect and shows it a place.

5. By the light of the bounty of longing, the image of the beloved's face in the heart shows the sun and the east within the halo of the moon's embrace.

6. Whenever that moon who shows his teeth smiles, he shows pearls and gems inside a ruby box.

7. O fairy, Sâhib must intend to travel to China; that is why he so often shows your lock (its curl) in his poetry.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The third couplet rests on a known fact of the calendar: in spring night and day are equal. Topal counts it among Sâhib's sayings that are as pithy as proverbs. The down has come like a spring, and so on the day of union evening and morning, that is, the dark of the down and the brightness of the face, have become equal. That the word "ber-ā-ber" means "equal" in Persian makes the couplet easily understood through its Turkish usage as well.

The second couplet brings two known figures of divan poetry together in one scene. Crystal is called "dry water" (āb-ı ḫuşk), and wine "wet fire" (āteş-i ter); the beloved's crystal neck is so transparent that the wine he drinks can be seen from outside, like wet fire visible within dry water. The sixth couplet turns the mouth, teeth and lips into a jewel box: the ruby box is the lip, the pearls inside it are the teeth. The arrow of the glance is a guest in the fourth couplet; the soul receives it with respect and shows it a place.

The pen-name couplet is built on a play of sounds. "‘Azm-i çīn" can be read both as the intention to go to China (Çin) and with "çin" meaning fold and curl. As if planning to go to China, the poet often shows the beloved's lock, that is, its curls, in his poetry; the link between China, regarded as the home of the musk deer, and the fragrant lock also feeds this play.

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. 118, ghazal 22 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 17b; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 5b; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 8a); also p. 7 (couplet 3). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources