Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Her gice ey meh cemālüñ çün taḫayyül eylerem
Ṭañlaram kim ben nice sensüz taḥammül eylerem
Senden ü benden kināyetdür nigārā ḳanda kim
Gāh vaṣf-ı gül gehī evṣāf-ı bülbül eylerem
Görinür zülfüñ ucından müşkil işler göñlüme
Her ḳaçan kim ḳur‘alar ṣalup tefe’’ül eylerem
Ḫāneḳāh içre riyā ile dirilmek niçe bir
Varuben meyḫāneye Ḥaḳḳa tevekkül eylerem
Yāra ḥālüm aġlasam dir Ca‘fer āgāham velī
Kimse baña gülmesün diyü teġāfül eylerem

In English

1. O moon, every night, as I imagine your beauty, I wonder how I endure without you.

2. O beauty, wherever I describe now the rose, now the qualities of the nightingale, it is an allusion to you and me.

3. Whenever I cast lots and seek an omen, hard matters appear to my heart from the tip of your tresses.

4. How long shall one live by hypocrisy in the dervish lodge? I go to the tavern and put my trust in God.

5. Ca'fer says: I know I should weep my state to the beloved; but I feign unawareness, so that no one may laugh at me.

Literary and Historical Commentary

What the Rose and the Nightingale Mean

The second couplet states, in the poet's own words, what the two best-known images of divan poetry mean. Wherever the lover describes the rose or the nightingale, it is a "kināyet", an indirect expression, for the beloved and himself. The rose is the beloved, the nightingale the lover. In divan poetry this pairing is known to the reader; but it is rarely said so openly within a ghazal. The couplet thus adds a gloss to its own tradition: descriptions of spring and garden are in truth the telling of a story between two people.

The refrain is "eylerem" (I do); most of the rhyme words, which end in "-ül", are Arabic words of the "tafa‘‘ul" pattern: taḫayyül (imagining), taḥammül (enduring), tefe’’ül (seeking an omen), tevekkül (trusting in God), teġāfül (feigning unawareness). The Persian "bülbül" (nightingale) enters among them in the second couplet. The repetition of the same sound pattern gives the ghazal a regular rhythm.

Omens, the Tavern and Feigned Unawareness

The third couplet rests on the tradition of divination. "Ḳur‘a ṣalmak" is to cast lots or throw dice, and "tefe’’ül" to try to learn the outcome of an affair by seeking an omen. Whenever the lover seeks an omen he sees matters tangled and knotted like the tip of the beloved's tresses; his omen always comes out as difficulty. The fourth couplet repeats a known attitude towards ascetics: rather than live by hypocrisy in the dervish lodge, go to the tavern and trust in God alone. "Tevekkül", reliance on God, is a state praised by Sufism; here it becomes the refuge of the lover who goes to the tavern.

The pen-name couplet is an inner monologue. Ca'fer knows he ought to weep his state to the beloved, but fears that if he weeps people will laugh at him, and so he practises "teġāfül", feigns unawareness. The contrast between weeping and laughing shows the lover's shame. The Paris copy writes "ben kim" for "kim ben" in the opening couplet. Nazmî did not place the ghazal in his anthology.

Bibliography

Online sources