Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün

Ṭutuşdum ‘ışḳ ile bir nā-tüvānam
Eger cān ḳurtarursam pehlüvānam
Bahār-ı nāz-perverümden ayru
Ṣararmış bir ḳuru berk-i ḫazānam
Ümīdüm māhı ṭañ mı selḫ olursa
Ki bir nā-mihribāna mihribānam
Beni gel pāymāl itme ayaġuñ
Olur āzürde zīrā üstüḫvānam
Cefāda ol ne deñlü kāmil ise
Vefāda ben daḫi Ca‘fer hemānam

In English

1. I have caught fire with love, I am a feeble wretch; if I save my life, I am a champion wrestler.

2. Parted from my coquetry-nursing spring, I am a dry, yellowed autumn leaf.

3. Is it any wonder if the moon of my hope reaches its month's end and vanishes? For I am loving to one who is unloving.

4. Come, do not trample me underfoot; for my bones would hurt your foot.

5. However perfect she is in cruelty, O Ca'fer, I am just the same in fidelity.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Champion If He Saves His Life

Written in the short metre of the mesnevis (Mefā‘īlün Mefā‘īlün Fe‘ūlün), the opening couplet begins with a jest. The lover has caught fire with love and is a feeble wretch; if he can save his life from this fire, he will count himself a champion wrestler. The gulf between feebleness and championship describes the lover's state without exaggeration, with a smile. Erünsal cites this opening couplet among those in which Câfer Çelebi repeats more sounds in the rhyme than are required, enriching the rhyme: "nā-tüvānam" and "pehlüvānam" share the sounds "v" and "ü" before the rhyme sound as well. The same richness continues in the word "üstüḫvānam" in the fourth couplet.

The rhyme words all end in "-ānam": nā-tüvānam, pehlüvānam, ḫazānam, mihribānam, üstüḫvānam, hemānam. The ghazal is short and plain in structure; each couplet ends in "I am ..." like a sentence in which the lover introduces himself.

Bones that Would Hurt Her Foot

The fourth couplet unites humility and delicacy. The lover asks the beloved not to trample him underfoot, but the reason is not his own pain: his body, wasted to bone, would hurt the beloved's foot. The lover thinks not of being crushed himself but of the beloved's foot being hurt. The Manchester and Cairo copies read "āzār" for "āzürde" in this couplet.

The third couplet sets up a play of sound between the moon and love. "Selḫ" is the end of the month, the nights when the moon vanishes from the sky. The moon of the lover's hope has also come to its end, for he is "mihribān", loving, to one who is "nā-mihribān", unloving, unfaithful. The word "mihr" means both love and sun. The pen-name couplet compares two equal measures: however perfect the beloved is in cruelty, the lover is as perfect in fidelity. Nazmî's anthology does not include this short ghazal.

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. 428-429, ghazal no. 137. 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. 65-66 (examples of enriched rhyme). 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. 137 (variants). https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/17182

Online sources