Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Baġrını ḫüsrevlerüñ şīrīn lebüñ pür-ḫūn ider
Zülf-i şebdīzüñ firāḳı yaşların gül-gūn ider
Ġamzeñi siḥr ile çeşmüñ rām idüpdür kendüye
Gör nice cādūdur ol kim sāḥiri meftūn ider
Ger hilāli beñzedürse ḳaşuña n’ola raḳīb
Egri fikri ḳanda olsa ṭab‘-ı nā-mevzūn ider
Gün mi var kim eylemez zülfeynini āşüfte-ḥāl
Gör ne meh-rūdur bu kim leylīleri mecnūn ider
Leblerüñe dem-be-dem Ca‘fer oḳur medḥ ü s̱enā
Gūyiyā şīrīnlik içün şekkere efsūn ider

In English

1. Your sweet (Şîrîn) lips fill the breasts of kings (Hüsrevs) with blood; separation from your night-black (Şebdîz) tresses turns their tears rose-red.

2. Your eye has made your glance its slave by sorcery; see what a witch it is, that it enchants even the sorcerer.

3. What wonder if the rival likens the crescent to your brow? Crooked thinking, wherever it is, is the work of an ill-balanced nature.

4. Is there a day when she does not dishevel her tresses? See what a moon-faced one she is, who drives the nights (the Leylâs) mad.

5. Ca'fer recites praises to her lips at every moment; it is as if he were reciting a charm over sugar to make it sweet.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Hüsrev, Şîrîn and Şebdîz

Names from the love story known from Nizâmî's mesnevi Khusraw and Shirin appear in the opening couplet together with their everyday meanings. "Ḫüsrev" means king and is the name of the Persian shah of the story; "şīrīn" means sweet and is the name of the Armenian princess; "Şebdīz" means night-coloured and is the name of Khusraw's famous horse. The couplet carries both senses at once: the beloved's sweet lips drown the breasts of kings in blood, as Shirin drowned Khusraw's; separation from the night-black tresses turns tears rose-red, and Shabdiz was the horse that carried Khusraw. Such double meanings built on proper names are a favourite game of divan poetry, and Câfer Çelebi fits this one into the first couplet with its refrain.

The fourth couplet repeats the same game with the story of Leylâ and Mecnûn. "Leylī" means night and also calls up Leylâ's name; "mecnūn" means mad and is Mecnûn's name. The beloved's dishevelled tresses are like night and drive the nights, that is, the Leylâs, mad. The lover and the beloved of the story have changed places; Leylâ herself has gone mad.

Sorcerer and Crooked Thought

The second couplet sets up a relation of sorcery between eye and glance. In divan poetry the beloved's eye is likened to a witch (cādū) and her glance to a sorcerer; here the eye is so powerful a witch that it has bewitched even the glance, the sorcerer, and bound it to itself. The third couplet mocks the rival: no wonder if the rival likens the crescent to the beloved's brow, for crooked thinking can only come from an ill-balanced nature. The word "nā-mevzūn" means both unbalanced and unmetrical; the rival's simile limps like a bad poem. At the close the poet's praises become a charm recited to give sugar its sweetness.

The copies part ways almost couplet by couplet. In Erünsal's thesis the Hâlet Efendi and Ayasofya copies read "Veh nice" for "Gör nice" in the second couplet, and the Paris, Hâlet Efendi and Ayasofya copies "ḳanda ise" for "ḳanda olsa" in the third. The Manchester and Cairo copies have "āşüfte-vār" for "āşüfte-ḥāl" in the fourth couplet, and four copies have "medḥ ü du‘ā" for "medḥ ü s̱enā" in the last.

Bibliography

Online sources