Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün

Şüküfte ḳalur ġonca füsūn-ı dehenümden
Leb-beste olur bülbül edā-yı süḫanumdan
Eyvā ile geçdi güni ‘uşşāḳumuñ ekṡer
Şeftālū recāsıyla bu sīb-i zeḳanumdan
Hūn oldu dili hasret ile nāfe-i çīnin
Nev-hāste-i hatt-ı siyeh-i pür-fitenümden
Ta‘ṭīr-i ḫaṭ u ḫāl-i bütān itmege her dem
Deryūze ḳılup bād-ı ṣabāya semenümden
Māh-ı felek efsürde vü pür-dāġ-ı gülefdür
Kettān-ı leṭāfet eṡer-i pīrehenümden
Rāḥat mı gezer ḳāfile-i ḫāṭır-ı ‘uşşāḳ
Ġamzem gibi bir dād-nedān rāh-zenümden
Ol meh didi Ṣāḥib oḳu ‘uşşāḳa bu naẓmı
Nābiye naẓīre dehen-i dürr-figenümden

In English

1. Before the magic of my mouth the rosebud is left open-mouthed in wonder; at the manner of my speech the nightingale falls silent.

2. Most of my lovers spent their days with "alas" (eyvâ, also quince), hoping for a peach (a kiss) from this apple of my chin.

3. The heart of the musk-pod of China turned to blood with longing for the fresh-sprung, mischief-filled black down of my face.

4. To perfume the down and moles of the beauties, the morning breeze ever begs from my jasmine body. (The subject of the line is not certain; it may also be the beauties who beg scent from the morning breeze.)

5. The moon in the sky is faded and full of spots through the effect of the fine linen of my shirt.

6. Can the caravan of the lovers' hearts travel at ease, with a highway robber of mine like my glance, who knows no justice?

7. That moon-faced one said: "Sâhib, read to the lovers this poem from my pearl-scattering mouth, as a response to Nâbî."

Literary and Historical Commentary

The whole ghazal is spoken by the beloved. Every line ends in "-ümden", "-umdan", that is "from my mouth, from my speech, from my chin", and the beauty praises her own beauty; where the poet names himself she appears as the owner of the poem: "Read this poem to the lovers, from my pearl-scattering mouth, as a nazire (response poem) to Nâbî." Sâhib thus places his own ghazal in the beloved's mouth and leaves himself only the part of the reciter. Nâbî (d. 1712), the poet answered here, was a major poet still alive in Sâhib's youth, whose verse was taken as a model for its wise, sententious manner. The thesis does not say which ghazal of Nâbî's divan is being answered.

The second couplet builds a game from the orchard. "Eyvâ" may be read both as the cry "alas" and as quince; the peach (şeftali) is in Ottoman poetry also the name of a kiss; "sîb-i zekan" is the apple of the chin. Hoping for a peach from the apple, the lovers pass their days with quince, that is, crying "alas".

An old belief lies behind couplet five: moonlight was said to rot linen. Sâhib turns it round. The beloved's linen shirt is so fine that this time it is the moon that has faded, its face covered with spots. Musk loses the same contest earlier on. Musk comes from the pod in the navel of the deer of China and Tatary and was believed to be formed from blood; the "heart of the musk-pod turning to blood" conveys both this belief and envy.

The glance turns highway robber in couplet six, and the caravan of the lovers' hearts cannot pass through its hands in safety.

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. 178, ghazal 77 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 28a; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 12b; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 19a). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources