Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ne bezm-i vuṣlat-ı yāre dili sezā idebildük
Ne ḫāk-i pāyına varduḳ ne cebhe-sā idebildük
Ne ẕikr-i yār ile ḳāni‘ ne künc-i firḳate ṣābir
Ney-i vücūdı ne ḫāme ne bu riyā idebildük
Cihānda kimse bizi çeşm-i i‘tibārına almaz
Ġubār-ı cismi ne sürme ne tūtiyā idebildük
Ne aġladuḳ o şehe ḫāhiş üzre sūz-ı dili
Ne żabṭ-ı girye ne taḳrīr-i mā-cerā idebildük
Ġam-ı firāḳ u ümmīd-i viṣāl-i yār ile Ṣāḥib
Ne terk-i ‘aşḳ ne is̱bāt-ı müdde‘ā idebildük

In English

1. We could neither make the heart worthy of the gathering of union with the beloved, nor reach the dust of her foot, nor rub our brow upon it.

2. We were neither content with remembering the beloved nor patient in the corner of separation; the reed of the body we could make neither a pen nor this ... (The meaning of the second line is not fully clear.)

3. No one in the world takes us into the eye of esteem; we could make the dust of the body neither kohl nor tutty.

4. We could neither weep before that king, as we wished, the burning of the heart, nor hold back our tears, nor tell our story. (The metre of the first line is faulty.)

5. Sâhib, with the grief of separation and the hope of union with the beloved, we could neither give up love nor prove our claim.

Literary and Historical Commentary

All the couplets of the ghazal are built on the pattern "neither ... nor ...", and each couplet counts what the lover could not do. The redif (refrain) "idebildük" (we were able to do), stating a negative outcome with a positive verb form, draws up an inventory of helplessness: one could not become worthy of the gathering of union, could not reach the dust of the beloved's foot, could show neither patience nor contentment. In this sequence each couplet adds to the weight of the one before, and the ghazal takes on the air of a confession.

The pen-name couplet, which Topal touches on in her thesis, ends with a term from the language of the court. "Müddeâ" is the claim put forward in a lawsuit; "isbât-ı müddeâ" is the plaintiff's proving of that claim. The lover is like a plaintiff: he cannot give up love, yet cannot prove his love either; his case neither lapses nor is decided. Sâhib, who knew the court from the bench, leaves love hanging like a suit that is never decided.

The third couplet names two eye remedies: kohl and tutty. In divan poetry the dust of the beloved's foot becomes kohl for the eye; the lover, unable to raise the dust of his own body to this value, finds esteem in no one's eyes.

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. 27 (couplet 5), p. 170, ghazal 69 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 26b; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 11b; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 16b). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources