Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Ey pertev-i nûr-ı nebevî sendeki ol ḫad
Gördüm yüzüñi ṣalli ʿalâ nûrı Muḥammed
Dirdüm ki beyâża çıḳa gîsû-yı sevâdı
Müşkil bu daḫı ḳaraladı ḫaṭṭ-ı mücaʿʿad

In English

1. O beauty who bears the radiance of the Prophet's light, that cheek of yours... I saw your face: blessings be upon the light of Muhammad.

2. I thought the blackness of your locks would come out white, that is, be made into a fair copy; alas, the curly down on your cheek has blackened this too. (The couplet can also be read in terms of writing: "sevâd" means both blackness and a scribbled draft, "beyâż" both whiteness and a fair copy, "ḫaṭṭ" both the down on the cheek and script.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

For a Beauty of the Seyyid Lineage

Âşık Çelebi introduces the kıta as "der-ḥaḳḳ-ı dil-ber Seyyid-zâde", about a beauty descended from the Prophet's family (Seyyid); according to the apparatus of the edition, one manuscript gives the heading as "Seyyid-zâde ḥaḳḳında ḳıṭʿa". The first couplet rests entirely on this lineage. On the face of the beauty of the Prophet's line shines "nûr-ı nebevî", the glow of the Prophet's light; on seeing that face the poet repeats the blessing Muslims utter when the name of Muhammad is mentioned. The words "ṣalli ʿalâ" serve two purposes here: they are an exclamation of wonder at the beauty, and at the same time a mention of that beauty's source, the light of Muhammad. The first line, left hanging with "sendeki ol ḫad", that cheek of yours, gives the impression of a gaze caught and held on the cheek.

The Draft Scribbled Over

The second couplet carries the real wit of the kıta and rests on the old likeness divan poetry draws between writing and the face. The Arabic word "sevâd" means both blackness and a scribbled draft; "beyâża çıḳmak" means both to turn white and for a draft to be made into a fair copy. The poet says he had hoped that the beloved's black locks would one day "come out white", that the brightness of the face would prevail over the darkness of the hair. But the down appearing on the cheek, the "ḫaṭṭ", has spoiled this hope: the curly down has "blackened" the face again, that is, both darkened it and scribbled it over, turning it back into a draft. Since "ḫaṭṭ" also means script, the line can also be read as a curly hand scribbling over a white page. In divan poetry the appearance of the down usually signals that youthful beauty is nearing its end; the couplet says this in the language of a scribe.

This wordplay has a curious echo in Şevkî's life. Of the abridgement of the Süleymân-nâme on which the poet worked for years, Âşık Çelebi says "Ol müsevvede beyâża çıḳmadın": death came before that draft was made into a fair copy. Whether the anthologist deliberately repeated the words "beyâża çıḳa" of the kıta is unknown; it is enough to record that the two expressions stand side by side in the same entry.

Text and Metre

Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi gives only the second couplet of the kıta in his tezkire, in the form "Dirdüm ki beyâza çıka gîsû-yı sevâdı / Müşkil bu dahı karaladı hatt-ı müca'ad". According to the apparatus of Âşık Çelebi's edition, one manuscript has "zülf" instead of "ḫaṭṭ"; in this reading it is the curly lock, not the down on the cheek, that does the blackening. Neither tezkire names the metre. The first three lines fit the hezec pattern "Mef'ûlü mefâîlü mefâîlü feûlün" with the lengthening (imale) of some syllables; the words "daḫı ḳaraladı" in the fourth line, however, do not fit this pattern. The question of the metre has therefore been left open.

Şevkî's life from Trabzon to Bursa, and the records about him, are gathered on the Şevkî Ahmed Çelebi page.

Bibliography

Online sources