Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Hāne-i dil her nefes cānā ki cāyuñdur senüñ
Sen şeh-i ‘ālemsin ol ṣırça sarāyuñdur senüñ
Kīmyā-yı 'izz ü devlet ṭūṭīyā-yı çeşm-i cān
Ḫāk-i pāyuñ ḥaḳḳıçün kim ḫāk-i pāyuñdur senüñ
Giceler kim dem-be-dem peydā olur ey dil şebāb
Āteşīn peykānlu tīr-i āh u vayuñdur senüñ
Yāra didüm olmışam kec-rā kaşuñ fikriyle ḍāll
Didi anı bilmedüñ mi ḥüsn-i rāyuñdur senüñ
İtlerin tā ṣubḥa dek uyutmayan cānānenüñ
Ca‘ferā her şeb fiġān-ı hūy u hayuñdur senüñ

In English

1. O soul, the house of the heart is every moment your place; you are the king of the world, and it is your palace of crystal.

2. The alchemy of glory and fortune, the tutty of the soul's eye, by the right of the dust of your feet, is the dust of your feet.

3. O heart, the shooting stars that appear one after another at night are the fire-tipped arrows of your sighs and laments.

4. I said to the beloved, "Thinking of your crooked-going brow I have lost my way"; she said, "Did you not know? That is your sound judgement."

5. O Ca'fer, what keeps the beloved's dogs awake until morning every night is your cry of woe and alas.

Literary and Historical Commentary

By the Right of the Dust of Your Feet

The second couplet is built on an oath that turns back upon itself. The lover swears by the dust of the beloved's feet, and the subject of the oath is that same dust: the alchemy that brings glory and fortune, the tutty that heals the soul's eye, is the dust of the beloved's feet. The phrase "ḫāk-i pāyuñ" is spoken twice in the same line, once as an oath and once as a statement. Alchemy here is the elixir believed to turn copper into gold, and tutty the healing powder applied to the eye. The dust brings both wealth and healing.

"Senüñ" (yours) is again the refrain, this being the fourth ghazal written on it, and this time the rhyme is built on the sound "-āy": cāyuñ, sarāyuñ, pāyuñ, vayuñ, rāyuñ, hayuñ. The lover's heart, in the opening couplet, is the beloved's "ṣırça sarāy", palace of crystal. A pavilion made of crystal or glass is a fitting likeness for the heart, through both its transparency and its fragility.

Shooting Stars and Sound Judgement

Shooting stars seen at night become, in the third couplet, fire-tipped arrows coming from the lover's sighs. In the KTB printing this word is printed "şebāb" (youth); Erünsal's thesis, however, has "şihāb", a shooting star, a meteor, and only with this reading is the sense of the couplet complete. In Islamic tradition shooting stars are also spoken of as pieces of fire hurled at devils who try to eavesdrop on heaven; in the couplet these arrows come from the lover's sighs.

The fourth couplet is a short exchange and plays on the word "way". The lover says that thinking of the beloved's "kec-rā", crooked-going brow, he has lost his way, become "ḍāll". The beloved's answer is a jest: this bewilderment is the lover's "ḥüsn-i rāy", his sound judgement. The crooked way and sound judgement meet in the same couplet. In the pen-name couplet the lover's nightly cry of "woe and alas" keeps the dogs of the beloved's street awake until morning. The "bilmedüñ mi" of the fourth couplet becomes "rāst bil kim" in the Ayasofya and Hâlet Efendi copies, and the Hâlet Efendi copy "fiġān u" for "fiġān-ı" in the last; the Ayasofya copy omits the word "kim" in the second. Nazmî's anthology does not have it.

Bibliography

Online sources