Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün
Sāḳī açıldı gül göñül olmaġ içün feraḥ
Alġıl elüñe lāle gibi la‘l-gūn ḳadeḥ
Ḫaddüñ ṣaḥīfesini ḫaṭuñ itdi taḥşiye
Oldı bu ‘ayn-ı ṣād anuñ üstinde ḳayd-ı ṣaḥ
Ḫāk ol hevā yolında dilersen ger āb-ı rū
Ḳoma tarīḳ-i ‘ışḳı budur meẕheb-i eṣaḥḥ
N’ola lebüñe noḳṭa dirisem biline ḫaṭ
Kim fenn-i ḥüsn içinde olupdur bu muṣṭalaḥ
La‘lün meger müferriḥ-i yāḳūtdur k’anı
Alduḳça Ca‘fer aġzına göñli olur feraḥ
In English
1. Cupbearer, the rose has bloomed so that the heart may rejoice; take in your hand, like the tulip, the ruby-coloured cup.
2. Your down has written a gloss on the page of your cheek; this "ayn" and "sâd" above it have become the mark "sah" (correct). (In manuscripts "ṣaḥ" was written above a passage that had been checked; the eye and brow seem to be likened to the letters of this mark.)
3. If you want honour, become dust on the road of that passion; do not abandon the path of love, this is the soundest school.
4. What harm if I call your lips a "point" and your waist a "line"? In the science of beauty these have become technical terms.
5. Your ruby lips must be a cordial of rubies, for whenever Ca'fer takes them into his mouth his heart rejoices.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Script, School of Law and Technical Term
Like the ghazal before it, this one describes the beloved in the language of books and learning, and even its rhyme is built on the "-aḥ" of Arabic words: feraḥ, ḳadeḥ, ṣaḥ, eṣaḥḥ, muṣṭalaḥ. The second couplet makes the cheek a page and the down a gloss written in its margin. In manuscripts the Arabic letters "ṣaḥ" (correct) were written above a word that had been read and checked; the couplet seems to liken the beloved's eye and brow to the letters of this mark. The eye is also called by the name of the Arabic letter "ayn"; exactly which likeness of letters the couplet rests on is not clear. The Paris copy reads this place "‘ayn u ṣād", counting the two letters separately.
"Eṣaḥḥ", the soundest, in the third couplet comes from the language of jurisprudence: the path of love is the most correct opinion among the schools of law. Erünsal cites this couplet as an example of Câfer Çelebi's imperative sentences; in the introduction the couplet is assigned to ghazal number 17. Geometry and beauty meet in the fourth couplet: the lips, for their smallness, are a point; the waist, for its slenderness, a line (ḫaṭ). "Fenn-i ḥüsn", the science of beauty, has adopted these names as its own technical terms (muṣṭalaḥ).
A Cordial of Rubies
The pen-name couplet rests on a remedy of old medicine. "Müferriḥ-i yāḳūt" was an electuary prepared with crushed ruby and believed to bring gladness to the heart. The beloved's ruby-red lips are likened to this remedy; whenever Ca'fer takes them into his mouth his heart rejoices. So the ghazal returns to the words "göñül olmaġ içün feraḥ" of the first couplet and closes on the same rhyme word. Erünsal notes that the same rhyme word is repeated in at least forty-seven of Câfer Çelebi's ghazals; this ghazal is one of those cases.
In the Hâlet Efendi and Ayasofya copies, the thesis notes, the name of the remedy in the last couplet appears as "müferriḥ-i yāḳūtıdur". Nazmî's anthology of response poems has no place for this 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. 329-330, ghazal no. 18. 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. 61 (imperative sentences), 65 (repeated 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. 18 (variants). https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/17182
Online sources
