Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefā‘ilün fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün

Vücūdı ref‘ ola ḫaṭṭ gibi nā-tirāş olanuñ
Zevāli olmaya rū gibi ḫoş-ḳumāş olanuñ
İşitdi nāmumı çāk itdi sīnesin Ḥātem
Gelür teraḥḥumı ben zāra ḳalbi ṭaş olanuñ
Olur müṣālaḥa üzre dü-ṣaff müjgānı
Cemāline o perīnüñ neẓẓāre-pāş olanuñ
Kesince başını miḳrāṣ şem‘-i sūzānuñ
Didi cezāsı budur sırr-ı ‘aşḳı fāş olanuñ
O şūḫ-berbere Ṣāḥib neẓẓāre itmegiçün
Meger ḥesābı mı var heftesiz tirāş olanuñ

In English

1. May the existence of one who stays unshaven like the down be removed; may one of fine texture like the face never decline.

2. Hâtem heard my name and tore open his breast; even one whose heart is stone comes to pity wretched me.

3. The two rows of lashes of one who scatters glances on that fairy's beauty stand in truce. (The meaning of the couplet is not fully clear.)

4. When the scissors cut off the head of the burning candle, they said: "This is the punishment of one who reveals the secret of love."

5. Sâhib, as for looking at that flirtatious barber, has one who is shaved without the weekly fee any account to give? (The meaning of the couplet is not fully clear.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

The fourth couplet joins a familiar task of night gatherings to a memory from the history of mysticism. The darkening wick of a candle was cut with candle snuffers to brighten the light; so the candle becomes a being whose "head is cut off" every night. Sâhib puts a word in the mouth of this scene: as they cut the candle's head, the scissors say that this is the punishment of one who reveals the secret of love. The candle's light shows everyone the love that should be hidden; and the beheading of one who reveals the secret of love recalls the well-known tradition of Hallâj, executed after saying "Ana'l-Haqq" (I am the Truth).

Under the redif (refrain) "-âş olanuñ", the ghazal opens and closes with the language of barbering and shaving. In the opening couplet the removal of the unshaven down is wished for; and in the pen-name couplet a flirtatious barber is named. "Hefte" means week in Persian and also describes a weekly wage; "to be shaved heftesiz" thus suggests being shaved without paying the weekly fee. Though the full meaning of the couplet is not clear, it may hint that watching the handsome barber is a pleasure that costs nothing.

The second couplet names Hâtem al-Tâ'î, famed for his generosity: even Hâtem, hearing the lover's name, tears his breast, and one with a heart of stone pities him. In the third couplet the two rows of lashes are shown at peace, like two armies drawn up facing each other but not fighting.

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. 166, ghazal 66 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 25b; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 11a). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources