Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Var ṭabībā fāriġ ol baña ṭabīb-i cān gerek
Ḳo beden tedbīrini dil derdine dermān gerek
Özge şerbet fikrin itme ‘āşıḳ-ı dil-ḫastaya
Yā şarāb-ı rūḥ-perver yā leb-i cānān gerek
Ḳan yudarsam cām-ı la‘lüñden n’ola kim ‘āşıḳa
Mey ciger ḳanı ṣürāḥī dil piyāle cān gerek
Didüm ölsem bari yār ile raḳībi görmesem
Didiler cāndan ḳażā ṣavulmaġa ḳurbān gerek
Derd-i dil bī-ḥad belā kūtehligidür ‘ömrümüñ
Çekmege bu derdi Ca‘fer ‘ömr-i bī-pāyān gerek

In English

1. Go, physician, do not trouble yourself; I need a physician of the soul. Leave the treatment of the body; the heart's pain needs a cure.

2. Think of no other sherbet for the heartsick lover; he needs either soul-nourishing wine or the beloved's lip.

3. Is it any wonder if I sip blood from your ruby cup? The lover needs liver's blood for wine, the heart for a flask, the soul for a cup.

4. I said, "If only I might die and not see the beloved with the rival"; they said, "To ward off misfortune, a sacrifice from the soul is needed."

5. The heart's pain is boundless; the calamity is the shortness of my life. O Ca'fer, to endure this pain an endless life is needed.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Sending the Physician Away

The ghazal opens with an exchange between a patient and a physician. The lover turns the physician away: what he knows is the treatment of the body, whereas the lover's illness is in the heart and calls for a "ṭabīb-i cān", a physician of the soul. The second couplet continues the language of medicine. In old medicine various sherbets were given to the sick as remedies; the lover wants none of these and recognises only two medicines for his illness: soul-nourishing wine or the beloved's lip. Before the refrain "gerek" (is needed) comes a rhyme in "-ān": cān, dermān, cānān, cān, ḳurbān, bī-pāyān.

The third couplet builds a drinking set out of the lover's body. The wine is liver's blood, the flask the heart, the cup the soul; it is no wonder if the lover sips blood from the beloved's ruby cup, since all the implements of his gathering are his own body. The Cairo and Paris copies read "yutarsam" (if I swallow) for "yudarsam" (if I sip) in this couplet.

A Sacrifice against Misfortune

The fourth couplet rests on the tradition of sacrificing an animal to be protected from calamity. Sacrificing an animal and giving alms to avert misfortune, that is, an unforeseen disaster, was a widespread practice among the people. The lover wishes to die rather than see the beloved with the rival; the answer given to him both supports this wish and mocks it: to ward off misfortune a sacrifice from the soul is needed. The lover's death is the sacrifice that will protect him from a greater calamity, seeing the beloved with the rival.

The pen-name couplet compares two limits. The heart's pain is "bī-ḥad", boundless; the real calamity is the shortness of life. To endure so boundless a pain an endless life, "‘ömr-i bī-pāyān", is needed. The lover complains not of death but of being unable to bear his pain to its end. The Paris copy reads "Derd-i dil ile belā" for "Derd-i dil bī-ḥad belā" in this couplet. Nazmî did not include it in his anthology.

Bibliography

Online sources