Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Meydān-ı baḫt-ı zūr dil-āverlik istemez
Ṭāli‘ gerek keşīde süḫanverlik istemez
Ref‘-i ser itme pāy-ı ḫum-ı pür-şarābdanın
Ol pāye-i refī‘ sebük-serlik istemez
Ḫoy-gerde olma ref‘-i ‘araḳ-çīn it ey perī
Ol perçem-i ‘abīr şikef-terlik istemez
Ḥüsn-i bütān şīveleri dād-ı Ḥaḳ gerek
Sulṭān-ı ‘aşḳ sāḫte dil-berlik istemez
Naḳş-ı kemālden varaḳ-ı rāyı sādedür
Anlar ki rūy-ı pāre ḫaṭ-āverlik istemez
Vech ü semā‘ lāzıme-i ehl-i şevḳdür
Āyīn-i ‘aşḳ çoḳ da girān-terlik istemez
Vaṣl-ı bütān-ı ‘aṣra hemān sīm ü zer gerek
Ṣāḥib bu ārzū ile bī-zerlik istemez

In English

1. The field of fortune does not want strength and valour; luck is needed, it does not want long-drawn eloquence.

2. Do not raise your head from the foot of the jar full of wine; that lofty rank does not suffer light-headedness.

3. O fairy, do not stay sweating, take off the sweat cap; that ambergris-scented forelock does not want ... (The word "şikef-terlik" in the second line is not clear.)

4. The beauty and graces of idols must be God-given; the sultan of love does not want counterfeit charm.

5. The page of judgement of those who do not want down to grow on (the beloved's) face is blank of the design of perfection.

6. Ecstasy and the sema are necessary to people of longing; the rite of love does not want too much gravity. (The edition prints the first word as "Vech".)

7. For union with the idols of the age only silver and gold are needed; Sâhib, this desire does not go with having no gold.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Found only in the Istanbul University T. 738 copy, this ghazal shares the same metre, rhyme and refrain as ghazal 54 two pages earlier; moreover, it repeats two lines of that ghazal almost word for word. The line "Ol pâye-i refî' sebük-serlik istemez" ends the second couplet in both ghazals; the line "Anlar ki rûy-ı ... hat-âverlik istemez" in the fifth couplet of ghazal 56 also occurs in the pen-name couplet of ghazal 54. The phrase "zûr-ı dil-âverlik" in the first couplet comes from the Farhad couplet of ghazal 54. These overlaps suggest that the poet tried two separate ghazals on the same ground, or that the scribe of the copy also recorded a draft; the edition offers no explanation on this point.

The two ghazals take the same pattern in different directions. Where ghazal 54 puts helplessness in place of strength in love, this ghazal says that fortune is won not by strength or eloquence but by luck, and in the pen-name couplet it turns to open satire: what is needed for union with the beauties of the age is silver and gold, and one without gold has no right to this desire. The first line of the second couplet also replaces the beloved's foot of ghazal 54 with the foot of the wine jar; the lofty rank this time is the tavern's jar.

In the sixth couplet the edition prints "Vech"; its being named together with "semâ'" suggests that the word should be read "vecd" (ecstasy). The "arak-çîn" in the third couplet is the thin cap worn on the head against sweat; the rest of the line is not clear in the form given by the edition.

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. 154, ghazal 56 (Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 13a). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources