Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ey gül-i ra‘nā ṣabānuñ cünbüşi āhestedür
Geh yürür geh diñlenür beñzer ġamuñdan ḫastedür
Her denīye aḳsa ṭañ mı bir içim ṣudur nigār
Böyledür ṭab‘ı ṣuyuñ elbette meyli pestedür
Ḳıpḳızıl dīvāneñ olmaġın çeküpdür bende ḫalḳ
Ḳanda kim bir bāġ tāze lāle yā gül destedür
Ḥüsn ilinde fitne olduġına şāhum muttaṣıl
Şāhid ol yitmez mi kim ebrūlaruñ peyvestedür
Ca‘fere ‘ār itme kāġıd yazmadan kim bülbüle
Ġoncalar gül cānibinden nāme-i ser-bestedür

In English

1. O lovely rose, the morning breeze moves slowly; now it walks, now it rests; plainly it is sick with grief for you.

2. Is it any wonder if the beloved flows to every lowly one? She is a draught of water; such is water's nature, its inclination is surely downward.

3. People have painted the picture of my being your crimson madman: wherever there is a garden there is a fresh bunch of tulips or roses. (The meaning of the couplet varies with the manuscripts.)

4. My king, is it not witness enough that strife never ceases in the land of beauty that your brows are joined together?

5. Do not think it shameful to write a letter to Ca'fer; for the buds are letters with sealed mouths sent to the nightingale from the rose.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Model Poem

Here the roles are reversed and Câfer Çelebi's poem becomes the ground for others: Nazmî's anthology gives the ghazal as a model (zemin) under the heading "Ez-ân-ı Tâcî-zâde" and lists the responses written to it. Necâtî's response stands at the head of the group; it is followed by Süleyman the Magnificent under the pen name Muhibbî, İshak Çelebi of Skopje, Zâtî, Sinan Çelebi-i Kâdî, Remzî, Subhî, Şevkî, Sehî, Sürûrî-i Acem, Fehmî-i Saruhanî and Nazmî. Necâtî's response, beginning "Tañ yili şimşâd-kadler turresinden hastedür / Za‘fı gâlib oldugiçün nâlesi âhestedür", takes up the sick and slow-moving breeze of Câfer Çelebi's opening; the same response says that the bud has not opened its mouth and that the rose's secret remains "ser-beste", sealed. Erünsal also shows that Zâtî repeated the fourth couplet of this ghazal as "Ben buradan bilmişem ‘āşıḳları öldürdügüñ / Ḳaşlaruñuñ ḳara yāsı muttaṣıl peyvestedür". Ten of Câfer Çelebi's poems appear in Nazmî as model poems, and this is one of them.

The refrain is built on "-estedür": āhestedür (is slow), pestedür (is low), destedür (is a bunch), peyvestedür (is joined), ser-bestedür (is sealed); "ḫastedür" (is sick) also joins the rhyme. Built from Persian words, this refrain gives the ghazal a soft and lengthened sound.

A Draught of Water

The second couplet is built on an idiom. "Bir içim su", a draught of water, is still said today of very beautiful people; Câfer Çelebi also uses it in its literal sense. The beloved is a draught of water, and water's nature is to flow downward; so it is no wonder that the beloved inclines to lowly (pest) people, that is, to the rivals. The word "muttaṣıl" in the fourth couplet has two senses: "continuous" and "joined". The proof that strife never ends in the land of beauty is the beloved's joined (peyveste) brows.

The third couplet is obscure. With the printed reading "dīvāneñ" (your madman), the lover's madness, full of crimson wounds, seems reflected in the bunches of tulips and roses in the gardens; according to Erünsal's thesis, however, the Manchester, Cairo, Paris and Ayasofya copies read "dīvānuñ" (your divan), and with this reading the couplet may shift to another meaning. Nightingale, rose and bud, the familiar trio, meet in the pen-name couplet: the bud is a letter with a closed, sealed mouth that the rose sends to the nightingale; the beloved, too, should not shrink from writing to Ca'fer. Here too, by the thesis's record, "yazmadan" becomes "yazmaġa" in the Paris, Hâlet Efendi and Ayasofya copies.

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. 340-341, ghazal no. 32. 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), p. 56 (Zâtî). 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. 32 (variants). https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/17182

Official sources

Online sources