Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün

Müjeñ tīrine dut ey ḳaşı yā sīnem nişān at ṭut
Münāsib birbirine ḥaḳ bu kim tīr ü kemān at dut
Atup esbāb-ı ‘aḳl ey dil ṭarīḳ-i ‘aşḳ dutduñ çün
Zihī devlet-i külāhuñ tā-be-farḳ-ı āsumān at dut
Atup pābūs-ı yāre ḳur‘a-i ümmīdi dut niyyet
Görünse reml-i baḫtında feraḥ durma hemān at dut
Sürüp meydān at mat eyle ehl-i bezmi pendüm dut
Biraz şaṭranc-ı istiġnāda ey şāh-ı cihān at dut
Ḫum-ı meyden götür ser-pūş at dut gerden-i cāmı
Gel ey Ṣāḥib-i pür-ġam ṣaḥne-i ġam bir zamān at dut

In English

1. O you of the bow-shaped brow, hold my breast as a target for the arrow of your eyelash, shoot; truly arrow and bow suit one another, shoot, hold.

2. O heart, since you have thrown away the means of reason and taken the road of love, how fortunate; throw your cap up to the crown of the sky, catch it (rejoice).

3. To kiss the beloved's foot, cast the lot of hope, make your intention; if joy appears in the geomancy of your fortune, do not wait, at once throw, hold.

4. O king of the world, drive your knight onto the field and checkmate the people of the gathering, take my advice; play your knight a little in the chess of disdain. (The meaning of the second line is conjectural.)

5. O sorrowful Sâhib, come, lift the lid of the wine jar and throw it, hold the neck of the cup; throw aside the stage of grief for a while, hold (to joy).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Sâhib ties the redif (refrain word) "at dut" (throw, hold), made of two imperative verbs, to the rules of a different game in each couplet; the ghazal opens the section of the letter "te" in the divan. The first couplet is archery: the eyebrow is the bow, the eyelash the arrow, the breast the target; the arrow is shot, the bow is held. The second couplet uses the idiom "külah atmak", throwing one's cap into the air for joy: the heart that has thrown away the means of reason and taken the road of love should throw its cap up to the crown of the sky. The third couplet comes from the world of fortune-telling: to be able to kiss the beloved's foot, lots are cast, an intention is made, and if fortune comes out favourable in the sand divination called reml, one says at once "throw, hold".

Couplet four makes "at" the knight (literally "horse") in chess. A knight is driven onto the board, the opponent is "mat" (checkmated), and the word "şah" refers both to the chess piece and to the beloved. In this couplet built on chess terms, the "chess of disdain" turns the beloved's refusal to stoop to the lover into a game. With the last couplet the game moves into the drinking gathering: the lid of the jar is thrown off, the neck of the cup is held, and the stage of grief is thrown aside for a while.

The same two words thus take on five different meanings in five separate fields: archery, a show of joy, fortune-telling, chess and the wine gathering. Among the variants Topal records is the reading "ḫūn" (blood) instead of "çün" in the first line of the second couplet in the Ali Emîrî manuscript.

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. 99, ghazal 6 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 14a; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 3b; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 6a). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources