Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘ilün fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün

N’idem ki ol lebi şehd ü şekerden ayrıldum
Figān ki şol ruḫı gülberg-i terden ayrıldum
Añup ‘aceb mi güzel gözlerini aġlarsam
Ki bir şunuñ gibi ṣāḥib-naẓardan ayrıldum
Firāḳ-ı zülf ü ruḫından fiġānumı şeb ü rūz
Ta‘accüb eylemeñüz kim nelerden ayrıldum
Ne ṭañ ṣabāḥa dek Ülker gibi inerse yaşum
Ki bir yüzi güneş alnı ḳamerden ayrıldum
‘Aceb mi Ca‘ferā olursam sefīh ü dīvāne
Çün ol firişte ṣıfatlu beşerden ayrıldum

In English

1. What shall I do, for I have parted from that lip of honey and sugar; alas, I have parted from that cheek like a fresh rose petal.

2. Is it any wonder if I weep remembering her lovely eyes? I have parted from such a one, possessed of such eyes and such discernment.

3. Do not wonder at my crying night and day from separation from her tresses and cheek; see what I have parted from.

4. Is it any wonder if my tears come down like the Pleiades until morning? I have parted from one whose face is the sun and whose brow the moon.

5. O Ca'fer, is it any wonder if I become witless and mad? For I have parted from that human being with the nature of an angel.

Literary and Historical Commentary

See What I Have Parted From

The couplets line up like a list of losses, each closed by the refrain "-den ayrıldum", "I have parted from": the lover has parted from the lip of honey and sugar, from the cheek like a rose petal, from the lovely eyes, from the sunlike face and the moonlike brow. The third couplet gathers this list into an exclamation: "nelerden ayrıldum", "see what I have parted from". The expression is still used in Turkish in the same form and sets the ghazal's tone close to spoken language. The phrase "bir şunuñ gibi" in the second couplet is also an emphatic pattern of everyday Turkish: "from such a one". The rhyme falls on "-er": şeker, ter, naẓar, neler, ḳamer, beşer.

"Ṣāḥib-naẓar" in the second couplet has two senses: one with a lovely gaze, with beautiful eyes, and one of discernment, of fine insight. The lover weeps remembering the beloved's eyes; for the one he has parted from is matchless in both gaze and insight.

Tears Falling like the Pleiades

The lover's tears in the fourth couplet come down at night like the stars of the Pleiades. The Pleiades are a cluster of small bright stars close together; in the later hours of the night they sink towards the horizon. The tears, lined up side by side and gliding down, resemble this cluster of stars. The second line ties the image of night to the beloved's face: the lover has parted from one whose face is the sun and whose brow the moon; a sky that has lost its sun and moon is left with stars.

The pen-name couplet closes on a contrast: the beloved is "firişte ṣıfatlu beşer", a human being with the nature of an angel. Because the lover has parted from such a one, he has lost his reason and become "sefīh ü dīvāne", witless and mad. The Paris copy reads "berg-i semenden" (from the jasmine leaf) for "gülberg-i terden" in the opening couplet, and the Paris and Ayasofya copies "eyleme gör kim" for "eylemeñüz kim" in the third. There is no trace of the ghazal in Nazmî.

Bibliography

Online sources