Original Persian Text

Istanbul 1306 printing, couplet 2 of ghazal 35; the full ghazal is not given in the source.

Rūz-ı meydān ez-zebān-ı tîġ bāşed baḥs̱-ı ʿaşḳ
Kār-ı ṭıflānest kerden ber-ser-i her kār baḥs̱

In English

2. On the day of battle the debate of love is held with the tongue of the sword; to start a dispute at the outset of every matter is the business of children.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The couplet is the second couplet of ghazal 35 in the Istanbul 1306 printing. Seda Aydın quotes this couplet in her article showing how Selîmî combines the identity of the sultan with that of the lover in his Persian ghazals, under the heading of valour, as an example of couplets describing battle. The word "baḥs̱" (debate) is repeated at the end of both lines, and the meaning of the couplet is built on this repetition. Selîmî's life, his Persian divan and the debate over his Turkish poems are discussed in detail in Yavuz Sultan Selim (Selîmî) and his poems.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The metaphor (istiare) "zebān-ı tîġ" (the tongue of the sword) is the centre of the couplet. In Turkish too the sharp edge of a sword is called its "mouth"; in Persian the sword's "tongue" means both this sharp edge and the final word spoken on the battlefield. The poet takes love out of the realm of debate and sees it as something to be proved by deeds on the field. The phrase "the business of children" in the second line scorns plunging into talk at the outset of every matter. This contrast between word and deed recalls the line in ghazal 65, "the claim of manliness is not made with boasting". Aydın notes that the word "tîġ" (sword) occurs 14 times in Selîmî's ghazals and that the word "meydān" (battlefield) is also used. In the couplet the language of love and the language of war merge in a single image.

Bibliography

Online sources