Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Olur bī-ṣafā geşt-i gülşeninde
Zenān ile olmaḳ teferrüc-i zenān
Şitāb itme tedrīcle nā’il ol
Viṣāl-i bütāna tedebbür-künān
Yüzin döndürür yan virür ḫūblar
Olursa arada serinlik ‘ayān

In English

1. On an outing in the rose garden, being with women becomes joyless, (like) the women's promenade. The sense of the couplet is not certain; the play of words built on the repeated "zenân" cannot be fully worked out.

2. Do not hurry; reach union with the beauties gradually, with careful thought.

3. If a coolness shows itself between you, the beauties turn their faces and slip aside.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The thesis gives this piece among the rubais, in third place; but it has six lines, not four, and does not fit the four-line form of the rubai. The lines are linked two by two, and the second, fourth and sixth rhyme on the sound "-ân" (zenân, künân, ayân). This structure is closer to the kıt‘a form; its place and heading in the edition appear to be an editorial choice.

The subject of the piece is counsel, and it concerns patience. Union with the beauties is reached not in haste but by "tedrîc", step by step and with thought. The last couplet gives the reason: if a coolness arises between them, the beauty turns away her face and slips aside. The word "serinlik" (coolness) here describes a chill between two people; in present-day Turkish too one says "there is a coolness between them".

The sense of the first couplet, however, remains dark. The word "zenân" occurs twice in the line and may carry two different senses: in Persian "zenân" means women, but the word can also mean "those who strike". Nor does the text show why being with women on an outing to the rose garden should be counted joyless. Like the other two rubais, the piece comes from the same leaf of T. 738, and the thesis names no other copy for it either.

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. 222, rubai 3 (Istanbul University Library T. 738, fol. 23a). https://openaccess.firat.edu.tr/handle/11508/16014

Online sources