Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Her ne dil k’anuñ dimāġında ṣaçuñ sevdāsı var
Aña raḥm it kim başında ‘ālemüñ ġavġası var
Ḥüsn ili sāḥirlerin kendüye maġlūb itmege
Gözleñüz her sā‘idinde bir yed-i beyżāsı var
‘Ālem-i ḥüsnüñ bahārı eyler iken ruḫlaruñ
Bu ne sırdur her birinüñ bir şeb-i yeldāsı var
Lāle vālih ḫaddüñe ḥayrān benefşe zülfüñe
Her birinüñ dōstum başında bir sevdāsı var
Ca‘ferā gül ġam yemez bülbül hezār olsa helāk
Yansa biñ pervāne şem‘ün ṣanma kim pervāsı var

In English

1. Have mercy on every heart in whose brain there is passion for your hair; for on its head lies the quarrel of the whole world.

2. To overcome the sorcerers of the land of beauty, look, there is a "yed-i beyzâ" (the shining hand of Moses) in each of her arms.

3. While your cheeks make the spring of the world of beauty, what mystery is this, that each of them has its night of Yeldâ? (Yeldâ is the longest night of the year; the tresses falling on the cheeks are likened to it.)

4. The tulip is lost in your cheek, the violet in your tresses; my friend, each of them has a passion on its head.

5. O Ca'fer, the rose does not grieve though a thousand nightingales perish; do not think the candle cares though a thousand moths burn.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Quarrel of the World on One's Head

The first couplet carries a plea: "Aña raḥm it", have mercy on it. Erünsal cites the phrase as an example of Câfer Çelebi's imperative sentences. The couplet lays two idioms on top of each other. In old medicine "sevda" is black bile rising to the brain; passion for the hair is to be smitten with the beloved's black hair. "To have the quarrel of the world on one's head" is a saying still understood today, said of someone who cannot get free of trouble. Dishevelled hair is turmoil; the brain of one who loves that hair carries the quarrel of the whole world. The rhymes end in "-ā": sevdā, ġavġā, beyżā, yeldā, sevdā again and pervā. The repetition of "sevdā" as a rhyme word in the first and fourth couplets is one of the repeated rhymes Erünsal often finds in Câfer Çelebi.

The second couplet rests on the story of Moses. Moses defeated Pharaoh's sorcerers with his hand that shone white when he drew it from his bosom, the "yed-i beyżā". The beloved's white arms are likewise miracles that defeat all the sorcerers of the land of beauty. The third couplet joins night and spring: the cheeks are the spring of beauty, but the black tresses falling on each of them are like the night of Yeldâ, the longest night of the year. That spring and the longest winter night should meet in one face is what the couplet calls a "mystery".

Care and the Moth

The tulip and the violet of the fourth couplet are lovers too. The dark spot at the base of the tulip and the deep colour of the violet are signs of the "sevdâ" on their heads, both love and blackness. The pen-name couplet sets side by side two familiar pairs of divan poetry: rose and nightingale, candle and moth. "Hezār" means both "thousand" and nightingale, and "pervā" (care, concern) is bound by sound to "pervāne" (moth). The rose does not grieve though thousands of nightingales die; the candle does not care though thousands of moths burn. The beloved, too, is one of these beauties who care nothing for the death of lovers.

The variants here are scattered. According to Erünsal's thesis, the Hâlet Efendi copy reads "Gözle gör" for "Gözleñüz" in the second couplet, and the Paris copy "bahārın" for "bahārı" in the third and "ḫāl-i" for "vālih" in the fourth; the Hâlet Efendi and Ayasofya copies have "aylarıdur" for "eyler iken" in the third. The ghazal is missing from Nazmî's anthology.

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. 344-345, ghazal no. 37. 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. 37 (variants). https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/17182

Online sources