Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün

N’ola ruḫ-ı zībāna ḳılursam naẓar ey dōst
Āyīne durur aña naẓardan ne żar ey dōst
Çeşmümde ḫayāli lebüñüñ bir nefes ārām
İtmez ṣanasın ṣuya düşüpdür şeker ey dōst
Aġladuġuma derd ile düşmenler olur şād
Raḥm it baña kim ḥālüme itler güler ey dōst
Her dem ṭolasam ḳollarunı bilüñe n’ola
Çün kim yaraşur şehlere zerrīn kemer ey dōst
Geldükçe gözüm yaşlarını sürme ḳapuñdan
Luṭf ile ḳıl üftādelerüñdür naẓar ey dōst
Bir laḥẓa ruḫuñ çıḳmadı zülfüñ zirihinden
Beñzer ki ider tīr-i naẓardan ḥaẕer ey dōst
Ca‘fer nice bir şem‘ gibi yana yaḳıla
Ortaya gelüpdür kim ide terk-i ser ey dōst

In English

1. O friend, what harm if I look at your lovely cheek? It is a mirror; what harm can come to a mirror from being looked at?

2. The image of your lips does not rest in my eye for a single moment; it is as if sugar had fallen into water and melted away, O friend.

3. Enemies rejoice when I weep with my pain; have pity on me, O friend, for dogs (the rivals) laugh at my state.

4. What harm if I wind my arms round your waist at every moment, O friend; a golden belt becomes kings. (The lover's yellowed arms are likened to a golden belt.)

5. Do not drive the tears of my eyes from your door whenever they come; be kind and cast a glance on your fallen ones, O friend.

6. Not for a moment did your cheek come out of the mail of your tresses; it seems to be guarding itself from the arrow of glances, O friend.

7. How long must Ca'fer burn and blaze like a candle? He has come out into the open to give up his head, O friend. (The burning head of a candle set in the middle of the gathering is trimmed; the lover, too, is ready to give up his life.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Looking at a Mirror

A small game of logic opens the ghazal. In divan poetry the lover's gaze may cast the evil eye on the beloved, and so the lover hesitates to look. Câfer Çelebi breaks this reticence with a question: the beloved's cheek is a mirror, and no harm comes to a mirror from being looked at. The brightness of the mirror is the brightness of the cheek, and the one who looks sees his own face. Erünsal shows that this opening was repeated by Zâtî in a response poem: Zâtî's ghazal begins "‘Āşıḳları ḳo ḥüsnüñe ḳılsun naẓar ey dost / Āyīneye bi'llāhi naẓardan ne żār ey dost". Zâtî was a poet who lived under Câfer Çelebi's patronage and wrote kasides praising him; according to Erünsal, in his response poems he can be seen taking over Câfer Çelebi's images and sometimes a whole idea.

Nazmî's anthology sets the ghazal in a large group. The model is Şeyhî's ghazal "Sen câna gözüm kılalı bir kez nazar ey dûst"; another poem by Şeyhî with the same refrain and Ahmed Paşa's response come before Câfer Çelebi. After him follow Atâyî, Safî, Hafî, Safâyî, Sa'dî, Sultan Süleyman, Tâli'î, Lâmi'î and Kâtibî.

Rival, Dog and Candle

Erünsal compares the third couplet with a couplet of Şeyhî: "Seni sevenüñ aġladuġına sevinürsin / Ṣaḳın ki işidüp işüñe düşmen güler ey dost". Both couplets have the lover's weeping and an enemy who laughs at it; in Erünsal's view Câfer Çelebi uses the same motifs with different links and gives the couplet an entirely different meaning. In Şeyhî the beloved is warned that the enemy will laugh at her; in Câfer Çelebi the enemies and the "dogs", that is, the rivals, laugh at the lover's state, and the lover asks the beloved for mercy.

The second couplet is among Erünsal's examples of simile: the image of the lips does not rest for a moment in the tear-filled eye but melts like sugar fallen into water. The yellowed arms of the fourth couplet become a golden belt fit for kings; in the sixth the cheek shelters in the mail of the tresses to guard itself from the arrows of glances. The pen-name couplet places the candle in the middle of the gathering with its head burning; "terk-i ser" describes both the trimming of the candle's burning tip and giving up one's life. In the Paris and Hâlet Efendi copies the words of the fourth couplet change places; the thesis gives its opening there as "Her dem ṭolasam ḳollarunı n'ola bilüñe".

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • İsmail E. Erünsal (ed.), Tâcî-zâde Ca‘fer Çelebi Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), pp. 323-324, ghazal no. 12. https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/TR-211662/taci-zade-cafer-celebi-divani.html
  • İsmail E. Erünsal, "Ca‘fer Çelebi'nin Edebî Kişiliği", introduction to Tâcî-zâde Ca‘fer Çelebi Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), pp. 50-51 (comparison with Şeyhî), 55 (Zâtî's response), 60 (simile). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

  • İsmail E. Erünsal, The Life and Works of Tâcî-zâde Ca‘fer Çelebi, with a Critical Edition of His Dîvân, PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1977, vol. 2, ghazal no. 12 (variants). https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/17182

Official sources

Online sources