Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün

Sāḳī yürüt ayaġ-ı meyi ḫoş-reviş budur
Dut destimüz ki himmet-i ḫātem-meniş budur
Āyīneveş bu ṣūret ile ey perī saña
‘Aksüñde görse ‘āşıḳ olur gösteriş budur
Döndermedüm yoluñda seri seng-i ṭa‘neden
Ḫalḳuñ baña hep eyledigi serzeniş budur
Pīr-i muġān ki meykedeye ḫalḳı cezb ider
Seyr eyle zāhid işte riyāsız güşiş budur
Düşdi ḫumār-ı ye’s ile dut dest-i Ṣāḥibi
Ey pīr-i meykedeye dem-i himmet yetiş budur

In English

1. Saki, send the cup of wine around, this is the fine way to go; take our hand, this is the generosity of a Hatem-like nature.

2. O fairy, if, like a mirror, you saw your own reflection in this form, you would fall in love with yourself; this is your display.

3. On your road I did not turn my head from the stone of reproach; this is the rebuke people always make to me.

4. O ascetic, look at the old man of the tavern who draws people to the tavern; this is effort without hypocrisy.

5. Sâhib has fallen with the hangover of despair, take his hand; O old man of the tavern, this is the moment for help, come to his aid.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The wit of the first line lies in the word "ayaḳ". In old Turkish "ayak" (literally "foot") means a cup; the saki "makes the ayaḳ walk", that is, sends the cup around the gathering. The natural link between walking and foot thus becomes a play describing the cup passing from hand to hand, and the phrase "ḫoş-reviş" (fine gait, pleasant way of going) suits the movement of both the saki and the cup. What the second line asks for is generosity like that of Hatem, famed for his liberality: the saki should take us by the hand.

The other couplets of the ghazal continue the dispute between the libertine and the ascetic. In the fourth couplet the poet shows the ascetic the old man of the tavern, the pîr-i muğan: this old man who draws people to the tavern is, against the ascetic's showy worship, an example of "riyāsız güşiş", effort without pretence. Topal notes that in Sâhib the pîr-i muğan corresponds to the spiritual guide to whom the lover devotes himself. The pen-name couplet is an entreaty to the same guide: Sâhib, fallen to the ground with the hangover of despair, must be taken by the hand; "dem-i himmet", the moment for help, has come. The word "yetiş" (come to my aid) recalls the call "yetiş" with which dervishes ask their spiritual masters for help.

The second couplet describes with delicate mockery the beloved's fondness for his own beauty: were the beloved to see his reflection in a mirror, he would fall in love with himself; that is his display. In the Istanbul University T. 738 copy the two lines of this couplet have changed places.

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. 126, ghazal 29 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 19a; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 6b; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 7a); also p. 17 (the pîr-i muğan). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources