Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Çarḫa yir yir od uran her gice āhumdur benüm
Tīre iden ‘ālemi dūd-ı siyāhumdur benüm
İşiginde yir bulalı göge irmişdür başum
Māh-ı nev kim görinür ṭarf-ı külāhumdur benüm
Şeb sipendin yaḳmaġa ey meh-liḳā her ṣubḥ-dem
Od bıraġan micmer-i eflāke āhumdur benüm
Her seḥergeh ḳapusında ol güzeller şāhınuñ
Nevbet-i şāhī fiġān-ı ṣubḥgāhumdur benüm
Niçe yıllardur senüñ yoluñda ṭopraġ olmışam
Dimedüñ bir gün ki Ca‘fer ḫāk-i rāhumdur benüm

In English

1. What sets fire to the sky in places every night is my sigh; what darkens the world is my black smoke.

2. Since I found a place at your threshold my head has reached the sky; the new moon that is seen is the rim of my cap.

3. O moon-faced one, what throws fire into the censer of the heavens every dawn to burn the rue seeds of the night is my sigh.

4. The royal band that plays every dawn at the door of that king of beauties is my morning lament.

5. For many years I have been dust on your path; not once did you say, "Ca'fer is the dust of my path".

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Royal Band at the Door

The fourth couplet rests on a custom of the Ottoman palace. "Nevbet-i şāhī" is the military band that played at the sultan's gate at set times, above all at dawn; this playing was counted among the signs of sovereignty. The beloved is the "king of beauties", and at his door too a band plays every dawn: it is the lover's morning lament. The palace ceremony becomes the lover's moaning; the cry is turned into music announcing the beloved's sovereignty.

The third couplet carries into the sky the custom of burning rue against the evil eye. "Sipend", rue seed, was thrown on the fire for protection from the evil eye. The stars of the night are like these seeds; every morning the lover's sigh throws fire into the censer of the sky and burns the stars. The fading of the stars at dawn is thus explained by the lover's sigh. The rhyme is on "-āh" and the refrain "-umdur benüm" (it is my ...): āhum, siyāhum, külāhum, āhum, ṣubḥgāhum, rāhum.

Images Shared with Mesîhî

Erünsal compares two couplets of this ghazal with Mesîhî's ghazal 160. In Câfer Çelebi's second couplet the new moon is the rim of the lover's cap; in Mesîhî's couplet the sun seen in the sky is the cap the poet has thrown into the air for joy. "Throwing one's cap to the sky" is an expression used for joy. The image of black smoke darkening the world in Câfer Çelebi's opening couplet also occurs in the same ghazal of Mesîhî: "Yüzini ḳara ḳılan dūd-ı siyāhumdur benüm". Erünsal notes that Mesîhî had a style of his own and that it is hard to say whether he was influenced by Câfer Çelebi.

Nazmî places it on the ground of Sultan Cem's ghazal with the opening "Görinen çerh-i mu‘allak dûd-ı âhumdur benüm". It comes after Kemalpaşazâde and is followed by İshak Çelebi, Muhibbî, Lâmi'î, Âhî, Revânî and Zâtî. The pen-name couplet unites humility and reproach: for years Ca'fer has been dust on the beloved's path, yet the beloved has not once called him the dust of her own path. The Hâlet Efendi copy reads "seḥer kim" for "seḥergeh" in the fourth couplet.

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. 424-425, ghazal no. 132. 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. 54-55 (comparison with Mesîhî, ghazal 160). 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. 132 (variants). https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/17182

Official sources

Online sources