Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Feyż-i nesīm-i luṭf-ı Ḫudā āşikār olur
Her dāġ-ı sīne bir gül-i āl-ı bahār olur
Ḳalmaz zemīn-i dilde ġubār-ı keder gider
Bir gün seḥāb-ı feyż-i Ḫudā reşḥa-dār olur
Künc-i belāda ser-be-girībān-ı ṣabr olan
Gerden-firāz-ı ‘āṭıfet-i girdgār olur
Baḫtuñ ne deñlü olsa siyāh olma muẓṭarib
Āḫir sevād-ı bāṣıra-i ‘itibār olur
Ṣāḥib ‘adūlaruñ daḫı bu rüzgārdan
Evrāḳ-ı ‘ayneti bir gün olur tārmār olur

In English

1. The breeze of God's grace shows its bounty; every scar on the breast becomes a red rose of spring.

2. The dust of grief does not remain on the ground of the heart, it goes; one day the cloud of God's bounty sheds its drops.

3. One who, in the corner of affliction, bows his head into the collar of patience is made to hold his head high by the compassion of the Creator.

4. However black your fortune may be, do not be troubled; in the end (that blackness) becomes the pupil of the eye of esteem.

5. Sâhib, the leaves (of the fortune) of your enemies too will one day be scattered by this wind. (The reading of the word "‘aynet" in the second line is not certain.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Found only in the Ali Emîrî copy, this ghazal is one of the divan's poems of consolation and patience. Each couplet announces the relief that will come at the end of a hardship: the scar on the breast turns into a spring rose, the dust of grief in the heart is settled by rain, and one who is patient in the corner of affliction holds his head high. In the opening couplet, when grace blows like a breeze, the redness of wounds is turned to the colour of the rose; the mark of pain becomes the sign of beauty.

Topal cites the fourth couplet as an example of Sâhib's gnomic (hikemî) manner in the style of Nâbî. The couplet draws consolation from the colour black: however black fortune may be, blackness in the end becomes the pupil of the eye, and the pupil is the most precious place, carrying all of a person's sight. Since "sevâd" means both blackness and the dark of the eye, black fortune and the power of sight meet in one word. A similar transformation is found in the third couplet: "ser-be-girîbân" is the person who bows his head and buries it in his collar, thoughtful and sorrowful; at the end of patience this bowed head turns into a "gerden-firâz", a person whose head is held high.

The pen-name couplet speaks the other face of consolation: the enemies' day will come too. "Rüzgâr" means both the blowing wind and time, the age; the wind of time will one day scatter the enemy's leaves.

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. 4, 15 (couplet 4), p. 137, ghazal 39 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 21a). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources