Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Olmaḳ olmaz çeşm-i ḫūbān-ı perīveşden ḫalāṣ
Murġ-ı dil mümkin midür olmaḳ bu ter-keşden ḫalāṣ
Pīrlikle zā'il olmaz ‘aşḳ-ı mevzūn ḳāmetān
Tīr oldukca kemān olmaz keş-ā-keşden ḫalāṣ
Hep ‘itāb-ı yāre cirm-i nā-suverīdür sebep
Dil Siyāveş (?) olsa da olmaz bu āteşden ḫalāṣ
Şāneveş çāk olsa da gitmez göñülden fikr-i zülf
Merd-i pür-sevdāya yoḳ fikr-i müşevveşden ḫalāṣ
Olma Ṣāḥib bāzī-i ‘aḳl ile bu şeş-derde zār
Bī-ḫavāṣṣ ol eyle kendin pencden şeşden ḫalāṣ

In English

1. There is no escaping the eyes of fairy-like beauties; is it possible for the bird of the heart to escape this quiver?

2. With old age the love of well-proportioned figures does not pass; as long as there is an arrow, the bow does not escape being drawn.

3. The cause of the beloved's reproach is always some fault (of the lover); even if the heart were Siyavush, it could not escape this fire. (The meaning of the first line is not fully clear; the edition gives the word "Siyâveş" with a question mark.)

4. Even if it were split like a comb, the thought of the curl would not leave the heart; for the man full of passion there is no escape from tangled thoughts.

5. Sâhib, do not be undone in this backgammon by the game of reason; pass beyond the senses, free yourself from the five and the six.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The densest couplet of the ghazal is the last, which joins the language of backgammon with the five senses and six directions of man. "Şeşder" is the backgammon board of six points; "penc" and "şeş" are both the five and six faces of the die and, in mystical language, the five senses and the six directions (front, back, right, left, above, below). The poet advises not to be undone in this backgammon by the game of reason, but to pass beyond the senses and free oneself from the bounds of the five and the six, that is, of the material world. The word "havâss" means both the senses and the elite; to be "bî-havâss" thus suggests both passing beyond the senses and keeping away from show.

The second couplet describes old age through the comparison of arrow and bow. The ageing lover's back is bent like a bow; the beloved's straight figure is the arrow. As long as there is an arrow, the bow cannot escape being drawn and pulled; and the old lover cannot escape his love for well-proportioned beauties. In the first couplet too the eyes of beauties are likened to a quiver (tirkeş), and the bird of the heart becomes the target of the arrows coming from it.

Siyavush in the third couplet is the hero of Firdawsî's Shâhnâma who passed through fire unburnt to prove his innocence; Topal reads the word with a question mark. If this reading is right, the couplet says that even were it Siyavush, who came out of the fire alive, the heart could not escape this fire of love. The fourth couplet describes a heart split like the teeth of a comb; just as a comb moves through the curl, the thought of the curl does not leave the split heart.

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. 157, ghazal 58 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 23b; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 10a; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 15b). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources