Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Gitme ey ġam sīneden ṭab‘-ı ḥazīnüm incinür
Firḳatüñle ḫāṭır-ı endūh-gīnüm incinür
Bir ‘aceb ḥayretde ḳaldum kim gül-i ruḫsārına
Baḳmasam göñlüm baḳarsam nāzenīnüm incinür
Pek gelüp gitme ḥarīm-i gülistān-ı kūyına
Ey ṣabā şāyed o naḫl-i yāsemīnüm incinür
Çoḳ da ey ṭurra ṭolaşma cebhe-i dil-dārda
İrmesün mihre küsūf ol meh-cebīnüm incinür
Tīre-baḫtum şöyle ey Ṣāḥib beni ḫār itdigüm
Ẕikr-i nāmumda gül-i naḳş-ı nigīnüm incinür

In English

1. O grief, do not leave my breast, my sorrowful nature will be hurt; my grieving heart will be hurt by separation from you.

2. I am left in a strange bewilderment: if I look at his rose cheek my darling is hurt, if I do not look my heart is hurt.

3. O morning breeze, do not come and go too much in the sanctuary of the rose garden of his street; perhaps that jasmine sapling of mine will be hurt.

4. O forelock, do not wander too much over the beloved's forehead; let no eclipse reach the sun, that moon-browed one of mine will be hurt.

5. O Sâhib, my fortune is so dark that, since I count myself a thorn, when my name is mentioned the rose engraved on my seal ring is hurt.

Literary and Historical Commentary

For five couplets the redif (refrain word) "incinür" (is hurt) follows the lover's delicacy, his fear of hurting anything. Topal gives the second couplet as an example showing that the lover never wants to hurt the one he loves, and avoids troubling him even when he burns with the wish to see and kiss his face. The couplet describes a dilemma: if the lover looks at the beloved's rose cheek, the darling is hurt; if he does not, his own heart is.

The first couplet extends this delicacy even to grief. Grief has sat so long in the lover's breast that its departure would also be a separation; a nature used to sorrow would be hurt if parted from grief. In the third and fourth couplets the lover addresses the wind and the forelock: let the morning breeze not come and go too often in the beloved's garden, or the jasmine sapling will be hurt; let the forelock not wander too much over the forehead, let the sun not be eclipsed, or the moon-browed beloved will be hurt. The likeness between the forelock covering the forehead and the eclipse of the sun is built on darkness covering light.

In the last couplet the talk turns to a seal ring. The poet's fortune is so dark that he counts himself a thorn; the rose design engraved beside his name on his seal ring is hurt by this thorn whenever his name is mentioned. Images of seals and ring stones are frequent in Sâhib's 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, p. 125, ghazal 28 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 18b; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 6b; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 12b); also p. 27 (couplet 2). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources