Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Nīk-ḫvāhī ḫoş ṭutup terk-i bed-endīş itmedüñ
Gül gibi yüz virdüñ aġyāra eyü iş itmedüñ
Çün ḳadem baṣduñ bisāṭ-ı ḥüsne ey ṣāḥib-cemāl
Ġırre olup baḫta hergiz yād-ı dervīş itmedüñ
Şerbet-i la‘lüñ yirine cāna ṣunduñ zehr-i ḳahr
Dem mi var kim nūşın ol bī-çārenüñ nīş itmedüñ
Zülfiñi ayaḳlara ṣalup benüm çoḳ sevdügim
Başuma anuñ ġamında az teşvīş itmedüñ
Ol büt-i ra‘nā öñüñden geçdi da‘vet ḳılmadın
Geldi gitdi ‘ömrüñ ey dil yār ile ‘īş itmedüñ
Zaḫma merhemdür ḫadengüñ olmışam mecrūḥ-ı ġam
Ey ṭabīb-i dil ne içün yād-ı dil-rīş itmedüñ
Niçe yıllardur ḳapuña yüz sürer Ca‘fer velī
Raḥm idüp bir gün anuñ ḥālini teftīş itmedüñ

In English

1. You did not keep the well-wisher content and leave the ill-wisher; you showed your rose face to the rivals and did no good deed.

2. O lord of beauty, since you set foot on the carpet of beauty, trusting proudly in your fortune you never once remembered the dervish.

3. Instead of the sherbet of your ruby lip you offered the soul the poison of wrath; was there ever a moment when you did not turn that helpless one's honey to a sting?

4. Letting your tresses, which I love so much, fall to your feet, you did not a little to trouble my head with grief for them.

5. O heart, that lovely idol passed before you without your inviting her; your life came and went, and you had no pleasure with the beloved.

6. Your arrow is a salve to the wound; I have become one wounded by grief. O physician of hearts, why did you not remember the heart-wounded?

7. For many years Ca'fer has rubbed his face on your door; yet you never once took pity and inquired into his state.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A List of Things Left Undone

The ghazal is a list of reproaches setting out what the beloved has not done, and the refrain carries the list: "itmedüñ", "you did not do". In each couplet the lover counts a duty the beloved has neglected: she did not abandon the ill-wisher, did not remember the dervish, never refrained from turning honey to a sting, did not remember the wounded, did not inquire into the lover's state. The rhyme is built on "-īş": bed-endīş, iş, dervīş, nīş, teşvīş, ‘īş, dil-rīş, teftīş. Among the Persian and Arabic words the Turkish word "iş" (deed) has been placed in the opening couplet: "eyü iş itmedüñ", you did no good deed.

The pen-name couplet recalls the language of official correspondence more than that of the divan. "Teftīş" means to inquire into a matter, to investigate it, and in Ottoman administration it was a term used for looking into a complaint or an official's conduct. For years Ca'fer has rubbed his face on the beloved's door; the beloved has not once made a teftīş into his state. From the pen of a poet in state service, the word makes the lover's complaint resemble a petition.

Honey and Sting

The third couplet uses two words often paired in Persian: "nūş" (honey, a sweet drink) and "nīş" (a bee's sting). The two words differ by a single letter, and their meanings are opposite. Instead of the sherbet of her lip the beloved has offered the lover the poison of wrath; she always turns his honey to a sting. The fourth couplet's "teşvīş" means both confusion, disorder, and distress, trouble; the dishevelled tresses reaching to the feet have also thrown the lover's head into confusion.

The lover turns his reproach on his own heart in the fifth couplet: the beloved passed before it without waiting for an invitation, but the heart missed the chance; life has gone by and no pleasure was had with the beloved. In the sixth the beloved's arrow is a salve for the wound; yet the physician of hearts does not remember the wounded. The "ḳılmadın" of the fifth couplet becomes "itmedüñ", the refrain word itself, in the Paris, Ayasofya and Hâlet Efendi copies; the Hâlet Efendi copy also has "geçdi" for "gitdi" there. Nazmî's anthology bears no trace of the ghazal.

Bibliography

Online sources