Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Felekde sāyeveş cānā kimüñ pāyına düşdümse
Fütāde ḳıldı mihrāsā kimüñ pāyına düşdümse
Ġubār-ı ġamla muġber oldıġum ḳaldı baña ancaḳ
Çü dāmen yüz sürüp her cā kimüñ pāyına düşdümse
Beni pervāneāsā yaḳdı ġayra şu‘le-pāş oldı
Miṡāl-i şem‘i bezm-ārā kimüñ pāyına düşdümse
Bu naḫlistān-ı ġamda ḫāksār-ı rūzgār oldum
Olup berg-i ḫazān-sīmā kimüñ pāyına düşdümse
Perīşān-ḫāṭır u pür-pīç ü ḫam itdi beni Ṣāḥib
Miṡāl-i zülf-i ‘anbersā kimüñ pāyına düşdümse

In English

1. O beloved, whoever's feet I fell at in this world like a shadow, like the sun he made me lie fallen.

2. Whoever's feet I fell at, rubbing my face everywhere like a skirt, all that was left me was to be covered with the dust of grief.

3. Whoever's feet I fell at, like the candle that adorns the gathering, burned me like a moth and scattered flames on others.

4. Whoever's feet I fell at, like an autumn leaf, I became dust blown by the wind of time in this palm grove of grief.

5. O Sâhib, whoever's feet I fell at, like an ambergris-scented curl, made me distracted in heart, twisted and bent.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The refrain of this ghazal is unusually long: "kimüñ pâyına düşdümse", "whoever's feet I fell at". In each couplet this long refrain joins a different object and builds a series of things that fall at someone's feet: a shadow, a skirt, a candle, an autumn leaf, a curl. Each of them does indeed fall to the foot of something. The shadow lies on the ground beneath the sun that casts it; the skirt gathers dust as it trails along the ground; the moth falls at the candle's foot; the autumn leaf comes down at the foot of the tree and is blown about by the wind; the long curl spills down to the feet. Each time the lover has thrown himself at someone's feet, and each time he has met in return with abasement, dust, burning and distress.

In this sequence the subject of the ghazal is less the beloved than the complaint of a man who finds no return from anyone he bows before. The first couplet, opening with the word "felek" (fate, the heavens), and the fourth, built on the phrase "the wind of time", suggest that the complaint is not confined to love alone. One copy reads "ider pâymâl" (tramples underfoot) in place of "fütâde kıldı" in the second line of the opening couplet, making the sense of humiliation harsher still.

In the final couplet the curl becomes the mirror of the lover's own state. The curl is dishevelled, twisted and bent; the lover, too, has become scattered in heart and bent double because of those at whose feet he fell. The words "perîşân", "pür-pîç" and "ham" are chosen so as to describe both the hair and the lover's state of mind.

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. 193, ghazal 92 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 31b; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 15b; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 23a). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources