Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ruḫ-ı ḫurşīd-i tāb-ı yāre baḳ meh-tābı neylersin
Mey-i rengīn dururken meclis içre ābı neylersin
Ḫaṭādur intiḫāb-ı cāy-ı būse rūy-ı dil-berde
Dilā ṣaḥn-ı ḥarīm-i Ka‘bede miḥrābı neylersin
O şūḫuñ ḫançer-i bürrānını seyr eyle sīnemde
Güẕeşte dāstān-ı Rüstem ü Sührābı neylersin
Yaḳışmaz çīn-i ebrū ḫaṭṭı gelmiş rūy-ı ḫūbāna
Yıḳılmış ḫāne-i ḥüsn ey perī bevvābı neylersin
Mey-i gül-gūnı Ṣāḥib beñzedirsin la‘l-i dil-dāra
Ġaraż teşbīh-i isti‘dād ise vişn-ābı neylersin

In English

1. Look at the beloved's cheek, bright as the sun; what will you do with moonlight? While coloured wine stands in the gathering, what will you do with water?

2. It is a mistake to choose a place for a kiss on the heart-stealer's face; O heart, in the courtyard of the Kaaba's sanctuary, what will you do with a mihrab?

3. Watch that coquette's keen dagger in my breast; what will you do with the bygone tale of Rüstem and Sührab?

4. A frowning brow does not suit the faces of beauties whose down has come; O fairy, what will you do with a doorkeeper for a fallen house of beauty?

5. Sâhib, you liken rose-coloured wine to the beloved's ruby lip; if the aim is an apt likeness, what will you do with cherry drink (vişnap)? The couplet is obscure: the poet seems to say that with rose-coloured wine at hand, cherry sherbet is not needed for the comparison.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The second couplet applies a situation familiar from religious law to the kiss. The mihrab is the niche in a mosque that shows the direction of Mecca, telling the worshipper which way to turn. Around the Kaaba, however, there is no need for a mihrab; in the Great Mosque of Mecca those who pray face the Kaaba from all four sides, and every direction is the qibla. Sâhib carries this to the beloved's face: since every part of it is worth a kiss, choosing a place for the kiss is as idle as looking for a mihrab in the courtyard of the Kaaba.

The refrain "neylersin" (what will you do with) asks the same question throughout: when the real thing is there, what will you do with its shadow? With the sun before you there is no need for moonlight, with wine no need for water, with a dagger before your eyes no need for an old epic. Rüstem and Sührab, named next, are the father and son of Firdawsi's Shahnama who fight without knowing each other; Rüstem kills his son with a dagger and only afterwards learns who he was. With the beloved's dagger in the lover's breast, this famous tragedy becomes a worn-out tale.

The fourth couplet addresses a beauty whose down has grown. The frown of the brow is like the stern face of a doorkeeper guarding the gate; but once the down has come, the house of beauty has fallen, and a ruined house has no need of a doorkeeper. The vişnap of the closing lines is a drink made from sour cherries; the poet says rose-coloured wine is enough to be likened to the ruby lip. This last couplet may hold a finer jest; the text does not bring it fully to light.

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. 180, ghazal 79 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 28b; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 13a). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources