Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Mefʿûlü fâʿilâtü mefâʿîlü fâʿilün (metre identified by us)

Fânûsa girdi ṣanma ki pervânesi ile
Bir pîrehende ʿâlem ider ey nigâr şemʿ

In English

1. O beloved, do not think the candle has gone into the lantern; it is making merry with its moth inside a single shirt (the lantern's glass is one shirt that the candle and the moth have entered together).

Literary and Historical Commentary

The candle and the moth are one of the oldest pairs of divan poetry: the moth loves the candle's light, circles it and at last burns in its flame. Sülûkî adds a new object to this familiar scene: the "fânûs", the glass shade that protects a candle from the wind. When the candle goes into the lantern, the moth stays inside with it. The poet does not read this as separation or protection; to him it is a union. To be "in one shirt" is a Turkish expression for the closest intimacy between two people; the thin glass of the lantern is a single shirt that candle and moth have entered together. "ʿÂlem itmek" means to make merry, to enjoy oneself.

The couplet thus reverses for a moment the tragic story of candle and moth: instead of burning there is shared pleasure. That it is addressed to "ey nigâr", O beloved, suggests that the couplet voices the lover's own wish indirectly; the meeting of candle and moth in one shirt can be read as a reflection of his desire for the same closeness with the beloved. The couplet appears with the same text in Âşık Çelebi and Kınalızâde and survives as a single couplet selected from a ghazal. On the poet's work as a scribe and his music see Sülûkî Mehmed Çelebi (Memî Çelebizâde).

Bibliography

Online sources