Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Rūyına güler o gül-i ra‘nā kimi görse
Yüz gösterir o āyīne-sīmā kimi görse
Olmaḳla bu ne dā’ireye merkez-i tedvīr
Devre getürür Ka‘be-i ‘ulyā kimi görse
Her gördigini Ḫıżr bilüp rāh-ı fenāda
Dāmānın öper kefş-i sebük-pā kimi görse
Ser-keşlere ta‘līm-i tevāżu‘ ġaraż ile
Pāyına düşer mihr-i mücellā kimi görse
Āzāde-i seng-i sitem iken bu ‘aceb kim
Dāmān-keş olur serv-i dil-ārā kimi görse
Esbāb-ı fenā olmadıġın maḥrem-i ḫalvet
Taṣrīḥle ḥammām ider icrā kimi görse
Ṣāḥib gibi ketm eyleyemez sūz u güdāzın
Derdin yanar ol şem‘-i şeb-ārā kimi görse

In English

1. That lovely rose laughs in the face of whomever it sees; that mirror-faced one shows her face to whomever she sees.

2. Being the pivot round which these circles turn, the lofty Kaaba draws into its circuit whomever it sees.

3. On the road of self-annihilation, the light-footed shoe, taking all it sees for Hızır, kisses the hem of whomever it sees.

4. To teach humility to the headstrong, the polished sun falls at the feet of whomever it sees.

5. Though free from the stone of reproach, strange to say, the heart-adorning cypress draws its skirt away from whomever it sees.

6. The bath, confidant of the halvet, makes plain to whomever it sees that worldly means (esbâb, also clothes) do not last (by stripping him). The couplet reads in two senses; the closeness of "esbâb" and "esvâb" (clothes) supports this reading.

7. That night-adorning candle cannot hide its burning and melting, any more than Sâhib can; whomever it sees, it burns with his pain.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The refrain "kimi görse" (whomever it sees) shows a different object in each couplet as a being that treats everyone it meets in the same way. The rose laughs in everyone's face, the mirror shows its face to all, the Kaaba draws everyone round it, the shoe kisses everyone's hem, the sun falls at everyone's feet. Some of these acts are praised, others carry reproach; in the first couplet the rose that smiles on all and the mirror that shows its face to all also suggest the coquetry of a beloved who makes no distinction between people.

The sixth couplet is one of the bathhouse scenes that appear often in Sâhib's ghazals. Everyone who enters the bath undresses; the poet counts this as the bath's own counsel. The word "esbâb" means causes, the means of this world, and in popular speech it is confused with "esvâb", clothes. Whomever it sees, the bath parts from his "esbâb" and shows plainly that the means of the world, like clothes, are to be taken off and left behind. The phrase "mahrem-i halvet" also points to the halvet, the innermost room of the bath.

In the third couplet the saying "take everyone you meet for Hızır", met already in ghazal 83, is worked once more. The shoe counts everyone it sees on the road as Hızır and kisses his hem; the shoe's brushing against the skirt as it walks is turned into this gesture of respect. In couplet four the sunlight that falls on the ground is counted a humility that teaches the headstrong a lesson.

The fifth couplet calls the cypress "âzâde" (free); divan poetry says the cypress is free of burden because it bears no fruit. That it draws its skirt away from everyone, although no one throws stones at it, describes the beloved's needless aloofness. At the end the candle burns and melts through the night as a counterpart of Sâhib's own state.

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. 197, ghazal 96 (Millet Library, Ali Emîrî Manzum 243, fol. 32b; Istanbul University Library T. 1710/6, fol. 16a; Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 22a). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources