Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Çıḳmasun diyü gözümden sürme-i gerdi anuñ
Girye ḳılmam ger bilem kim öldüre derdi anuñ
Ḳarşusına çekdügüm āhuñ duḫānı ‘aksini
Ṭurre şeklinde ruḫı mir’ātı gösterdi anuñ
Dā’imā şevḳ-i ruḫ-ı zībān ile dil ravżası
Bāġ-ı cennetdür ki her dem tāzedür verdi anuñ
‘Ālemi bir laḥẓada yıḳarsın ey eşk isteseñ
Yuymaġa bir çāre it göñlindeki gerdi anuñ
Ca‘feri yār olmasa bāġa ḳoma ey bāġbān
Gülleri pejmürde eyler hep dem-i serdi anuñ

In English

1. Even if I knew that pain for him would kill me, I would not weep, so that the kohl of his dust may not leave my eye.

2. The mirror of his face showed the reflection of the smoke of the sigh I drew before him in the shape of a lock of hair.

3. Through longing for your lovely face, the garden of the heart is ever a garden of Paradise, whose rose is fresh at every moment.

4. O tears, if you wished you could destroy the world in a moment; find some means to wash away the dust in his heart.

5. O gardener, if the beloved is not with him, do not let Ca'fer into the garden; his cold breath withers all the roses.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Rhymes that Sound Like Verbs

Before the refrain "anuñ", "his", stand rhymes ending in "-erdi": gerdi, derdi, gösterdi, verdi, gerdi, serdi. Most of these words are formed by adding the Turkish possessive suffix "-i" to a Persian noun: "gerd" (dust), "derd" (pain), "verd" (rose), "serd" (cold). The resulting forms sound to the ear like Turkish past-tense verbs; in the second couplet there is a real verb in the rhyme: "gösterdi" (showed). The "verdi" of the third couplet is therefore at first glance read as the verb "verdi" (gave), but it is "verd-i", his rose. The rhyme plays on this likeness of sound between noun and verb.

The opening couplet describes a sacrifice. The dust of the beloved's road has become kohl for the lover's eye; if he weeps, his tears will wash this kohl away. So the lover will not weep, even if pain for the beloved should kill him. In the Cairo and Manchester copies the "ḳılmam ger bilem" of this couplet takes the form "ḳılman kim bile".

Dust in the Heart

The word "gerd" returns as a rhyme in the fourth couplet, but this time with another meaning: the dust in the beloved's heart, that is, resentment, ill-feeling. The lover addresses his tears: if they wished they could destroy the world in a moment like a flood; then they should also find a way to wash away the dust in the beloved's heart. The dust kept in the opening couplet is kohl; the dust to be washed away in the fourth is resentment. The Hâlet Efendi and Ayasofya copies read "yunmaġa" for "yuymaġa" in this couplet.

The smoke of the lover's sigh, in the second couplet, is reflected in the beloved's mirror-like face and takes there the shape of a lock of hair; the black curl falling over the face is the shadow of the lover's sigh. The pen-name couplet addresses the gardener: he must not let Ca'fer into the garden when the beloved is not with him, for his "dem-i serd", his cold breath of despair, withers all the roses. Nazmî's anthology passes this ghazal by.

Bibliography

Online sources