Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefâ'îlün Mefâ'îlün Mefâ'îlün Mefâ'îlün

Görüp nâz-ı ruhun zünnâr-ı zülfün bir gün âh itdüm
Yirüm od oldı san küfre berâber bir günâh itdüm
Na’lçen nakşîdür ey mâh-rû yiryir degül ebrû
Gubâr-ı çehre-i zerdüm yolunda hâk-i râh itdüm

In English

1. Seeing the coquetry of your cheek and the zunnar-belt of your locks, one day I sighed; my place turned to fire, as if I had committed a sin equal to unbelief.

2. O moon-faced one, the arcs showing here and there on my face are not eyebrows but the print of your heel-iron; for I made the dust of my yellowed face the earth of your path.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The piece consists of two couplets; the first is the opening couplet (matla), both lines of which rhyme. The refrain word (redif) is "itdüm" (I did, I made), and the rhyme is the sound "-âh" in the words "âh", "günâh" and "râh". The rest of the ghazal (gazel) is unknown. Kınalızâde gives the couplets as the last example in the entry on Senâyî; Beyânî too quotes only these two couplets from the poet. In the first line Beyânî reads "nâr-ı ruhun" (the fire of your cheek) instead of "nâz-ı ruhun", and in the second couplet he writes "yir yir", "çehre zerdüm" and "hâk-ı râh". The editions do not indicate the metre; the lines fit the hezec pattern of four mefâ'îlün, and this identification is ours. To whom and when it was said is unknown.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first couplet draws on conceits in divan poetry that describe the beloved through images of unbelief. The zunnar (zünnâr) is the cord that Christian clergy tied around the waist; the beloved's locks falling over the waist or shoulder are likened to this cord. The fire of the cheek recalls the temple of the fire-worshippers. The lover sighs on seeing this beauty, and this sigh turns his place to fire, as if he had committed a sin equal to unbelief. The harmony between the words "od" (fire), "küfr" (unbelief) and "günâh" (sin) is an example of congruence of images (tenasüp). Beyânî's reading "nâr-ı ruh" makes this image of fire more pronounced; Kınalızâde's "nâz-ı ruh" brings forward the coquetry of the cheek.

The meaning of the second couplet is obscure at first sight; the reading given here is ours. The nalça is the small crescent-shaped iron nailed to the heel of a shoe. The lover has spread his yellowed face like earth on the beloved's path; when the beloved passes along it, the crescent print of the heel-iron remains on the lover's face. That is why the curved marks on his face are not eyebrows but heel-iron prints. The likening of the eyebrow to the crescent moon and to the print of the heel-iron is in harmony with the address "mâh-rû" (moon-faced) as well. The lover's laying his face beneath the beloved's feet is an expression of devotion and humility frequently met in divan poetry.

Historical Context

These two couplets are the only piece by Senâyî that appears in two separate tezkires. For Senâyî's life and the verdicts of the biographical anthologies of poets (tezkire) about him, see the article Senâyî Mehmed Efendi (of Manisa).

Bibliography

Online sources