Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün

Nigārā sende ḫatm olmış güzellik tāzelik terlik
Senüñ ḥaḳḳuñ durur ancaḳ serīr-i ḥüsne serverlik
Lebüñden mu‘ciz-i ‘Īsā irişmiş Ḫıżr u İlyāsa
Yüzüñden gün żiyā ṭutmış ay alnuñdur münevverlik
‘Aceb bu ḥüsn-i ḫulḳ ile ne zībā yārsın sen kim
İrişmiş reng-i rūyuñdan gül-i gülzāra aḥmerlik
İrem bāġında ey dilber varur ta‘līm ider her dem
Ṣaçuñ reyḥāna sünbüllük ḳadüñ şimşāda ‘ar’arlık
Eridi Ca‘ferüñ nār-ı ġamuñla pōta-yı ġamda
Sen anı ġam bucaġında ḳoyasın bu mudur erlik

In English

1. O beauty, loveliness, freshness and dewiness have reached their end in you; the presidency of the throne of beauty is yours alone by right.

2. The miracle of Jesus reached Khidr and Elias from your lip; the sun has taken its light from your face, and the moon's brightness is your brow.

3. A wonder: with this fair nature, what a graceful beloved you are; the rose of the garden has received its redness from the colour of your face.

4. O beauty, going to the garden of Irem, your hair teaches the basil hyacinth-hood every moment, and your stature teaches the boxwood juniper-hood.

5. Ca'fer has melted in the crucible of grief through the fire of grief for you; should you leave him in the corner of grief? Is this manliness?

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Rhyme Ending in "-lik"

The Turkish suffix "-lik" (-ness) carries the whole rhyme of this ghazal, and each time the suffix is added to a Persian or Arabic word: terlik, serverlik, münevverlik, aḥmerlik, ‘ar‘arlık; in the pen-name couplet, however, to a purely Turkish word: erlik. From "server" (chief) comes "serverlik", from "aḥmer" (red) "aḥmerlik". In the opening couplet too the triad "güzellik tāzelik terlik" is lined up with the same suffix. The free attaching of a Turkish suffix to foreign roots gives the ghazal a sound close to spoken language.

The fourth couplet is a scene of teaching. The beloved's hair and stature go to the paradise garden of Irem and give lessons to its plants: the hair teaches the basil to be hyacinth, the stature teaches the boxwood to be juniper. In divan poetry the hyacinth is the likeness of the hair, and the juniper and cypress of the stature; here the plants must learn even their own names from the beloved. In the third couplet too the rose's redness has come from the colour of the beloved's face.

The Crucible of Grief and Manliness

The pen-name couplet begins with an image from the goldsmith's craft. A crucible is the vessel in which metals are melted in fire; Ca'fer has melted in the crucible of grief through the fire of grief the beloved gives. Then the couplet turns suddenly to an everyday sentence of reproach: "bu mudur erlik", is this manliness, is this valour? The beloved is called to account not as a sovereign or the owner of the throne of beauty but as a brave man expected to keep his word. The plain Turkish of the word "erlik" meets the opening couplet's "serverlik" in the same rhyme.

The second couplet brings together Jesus, Khidr and Elias. Jesus is known for his breath that raised the dead, Khidr and Elias for having drunk the water of life that gives immortality. For the lover, the immortality of these two deathless ones also came from the beloved's lip. The thesis records no variants between the copies, and Nazmî did not add the ghazal to his collection.

Bibliography

Online sources