Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün

Şīrīn zebānı söyleyicek nükteler leẕīẕ
Beñzer şuña ki ber vire bir şāh-ı ter leẕīẕ
Seng-i cefāsı lezzetini kande vaṣf idem
Olmaz bihişt meyveleri ol kadar leẕīẕ
Derd-i ġamuñla zehr baña nūş-ı cān olur
Kim acı şerbeti şeker ü şehd ider leẕīẕ
Tomār-ı şi‘rümi n’ola elden komazsa yār
Zevki sahīh olana gelür ney-şeker leẕīẕ
Ca‘fer ki ṣubḥ-ı vaṣla ire şevḳden ölür
Vaḳt-i seḥerde uyḳu olur dōstlar leẕīẕ

In English

1. The witticisms the beloved's sweet tongue utters as she speaks are delicious; it is like a fresh branch bearing fruit.

2. How can I describe the delight of the stone of her cruelty? Even the fruits of Paradise are not so delicious.

3. With the pain of grief for you, poison becomes a draught of life for me; for that pain makes bitter sherbet sweet as sugar and honey.

4. What wonder if the beloved never lets the scroll of my poems out of her hand? To one of sound taste the sugar cane tastes sweet. (A scroll is paper rolled up; its shape recalls a stick of sugar cane.)

5. Ca'fer, when he reaches the morning of union, will die of joy; friends, sleep is sweet at the hour of dawn.

Literary and Historical Commentary

One Couplet from Two

Câfer Çelebi wrote this ghazal in response to Ahmed Paşa's ghazal beginning "Oldı turunc-ı ġavġabuñ ey sīm-ber leẕīẕ", and Erünsal cites it among the examples showing how Câfer Çelebi made use of Ahmed Paşa. The line "Olmaz behişt mīveleri bu ḳadar leẕīẕ" from Ahmed Paşa's opening couplet and the line "Vaṣluñ na‘īmi leẕẕetini ḳande söyleyem" from his second couplet merge in Câfer Çelebi's second couplet into a single one: "Seng-i cefāsı leẕẕetini ḳande vaṣf idem / Olmaz bihişt meyveleri ol ḳadar leẕīẕ". Câfer Çelebi takes sweetness away from the bounty of union and gives it to the stone of cruelty the beloved throws; even cruelty is more delicious than the fruit of Paradise.

Nazmî's anthology gathers responses on the same ground by Prince Cem, Selmân, Kemalpaşazâde, Sürûrî-i Müderris, Süleyman the Magnificent under the pen name Muhibbî, and Necâtî. Erünsal compares the last couplet with Necâtî's couplet "Nergislerini ḳo uyusun gül yüzüñde kim / Olur bahār günleri ḫvāb-ı seḥer leẕīẕ" and points especially to the likeness of the second lines; in the introduction this couplet is mistakenly assigned to ghazal number 12. That the two poets wrote on the same ground is also clear from the anthology.

Degrees of Sweetness

The refrain "leẕīẕ" (delicious) measures a different taste in each couplet: the wit of the tongue, the stone of cruelty, the poison of grief, the scroll of verse and the sleep of dawn. The third couplet says that love turns pain into sweetness; poison becomes a draught of life, bitter sherbet becomes honey. In the fourth the poet brings his own poetry forward: if the beloved never lets the scroll of his poems out of her hand, it is because to one of sound taste sugar cane tastes sweet. The likeness between the rolled-up scroll and a stick of sugar cane carries the conceit of the couplet. Erünsal shows that Zâtî, who lived under Câfer Çelebi's patronage, repeated this couplet as "Vaṣf-ı leb-i nigār ile ṭūmār-ı şi‘rüme / Meyl itseler ‘aceb mi olur ney-şeker leẕīẕ".

The pen-name couplet likens death to sleep and the morning of union to the hour of dawn. The lover will die of joy when he reaches union; but as sleep is sweet at dawn, so this death is a sweet sleep.

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. 331-332, ghazal no. 21. 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. 48 (Ahmed Paşa), 51 (Necâtî), 56 (Zâtî). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Official sources

Online sources