Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Sevmişem bir dilber-i fettānı kimdür dimezem
Ḥasretinden cān virürsem anı kimdür dimezem
Gerçi cān bulmaz murād ansuz dil ārām eylemez
Göñlümüñ ārāmı kām-ı cānı kimdür dimezem
Lāle gibi cānumı yaḳsa ḳarara dāġ-ı ġām
Ol yüzi beñlü şeh-i ḫūbānı kimdür dimezem
Şāne gibi cismümi eylerler ise şāḫ şāḫ
Zülfine baġ ḳoşduġum cānānı kimdür dimezem
Ger boġazumdan aṣalar ya yaḳalar şem‘ gibi
Bezm-i ruḫuñ şem‘-i nūr-efşānı kimdür dimezem
Ḳana yunsa göñlegüm gül gibi zaḫm-ı çūbdan
Gülşen-i cānuñ gül-i ḫandānı kimdür dimezem
Ger ḳulaġumca ḳılalar Ca‘ferā her pāremi
Ol ḳulaġı küpelü fettānı kimdür dimezem

In English

1. I have loved a bewitching beauty, and I will not say who she is; though I give up my soul in longing for her, I will not say who she is.

2. True, the soul finds no desire without her, the heart no rest; I will not say who is my heart's rest and my soul's wish.

3. Though the brand of grief burns my soul black like a tulip, I will not say who that mole-faced king of beauties is.

4. Though they split my body branch by branch like a comb, I will not say who the beloved is with whose tresses I have joined my head.

5. Though they hang me by the throat or burn me like a candle, I will not say who is the light-scattering candle of the gathering of her cheek.

6. Though my shirt be bathed in blood like a rose from the wounds of the stick, I will not say who is the laughing rose of the soul's garden.

7. O Ca'fer, though they cut every piece of me to the size of my ear, I will not say who that bewitcher with the ringed ear is.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Keeping a Secret under Interrogation

The lover vows never to reveal the name of the one he loves, whatever happens, and the refrain is that vow itself: "kimdür dimezem", "I will not say who she is". He repeats it in the face of ever heavier punishments. First come longing and grief; then the body split branch by branch like the teeth of a comb, hanging by the throat, burning like a candle, beating with a stick until the shirt is dyed with blood, and at last being cut into pieces the size of an ear. The ghazal is built like a scene of interrogation; each punishment is a question, and the lover's answer is always the same.

Each punishment is accompanied by an image of the beloved. The body split like a comb recalls the combed tresses; the lover burned like a candle calls to mind the "light-scattering candle" of the beloved's cheek; the blood-dyed shirt resembles an opened rose and names the beloved "the laughing rose". The pen-name couplet matches being cut into pieces the size of an ear with the beloved's ringed ear. The rhyme turns on "-ān": fettānı, anı, cānı, ḫūbānı, cānānı, nūr-efşānı, ḫandānı, fettānı.

The Ringed Ear

The phrase "ḳulaġı küpelü" in the pen-name couplet shows the beloved as a youth wearing an earring. Between the lover's body cut "to the size of an ear" and the beloved's ringed ear there is a link of sound and picture. The word "fettān" of the opening couplet is repeated here; the ghazal opens and closes with the same word.

The Cairo and Manchester copies, however, give the refrain throughout as "kimdür bilmezem", that is, "I do not know who she is". This reading changes the sense of the couplets: instead of a lover keeping a secret, a lover appears who says he does not know whom he loves. There are smaller variants too: the Ayasofya copy reads "bu" for "bir" in the opening couplet, the Paris copy "ārām u" for "ārāmı" in the second, and the Cairo, Paris and Hâlet Efendi copies "şem‘-veş" for "şem‘ gibi" in the fifth; the Paris, Hâlet Efendi and Ayasofya copies have "rūmuñ" for "ruḫuñ" in the same couplet. It is absent from Nazmî's anthology.

Bibliography

Online sources