Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün

Ne fettānlıḳ durur yā Rab bu kim ol gül-‘ıẕār eyler
Ki bir göz yumup açınca nice diller şikār eyler
Degül bu ḫaṭ ġubār irmiş dilā ḫaddine zülfinden
Ruḫı key sādelikden ol ġubārı āşikār eyler
‘Aceb mi ruḫlaruñ şevḳi yaḳup nūr eylese şem‘i
Yanar od eylemez anı kişiye k’intiẓār eyler
Şühüb şeklinde āteşler degüldür ṣaçılan dehre
İzi tozına ol māhuñ melekler zer nis̱ār eyler
Ruḫuñ devrinde ṭañ mıdur boyansam ḳana yaşumdan
Bahār olsa yaġan yaġmur çü ḫāki lāle-zār eyler
Görinen gözde kirpikler degüldür merdüm-i çeşmüm
Miyānuñ yādına her dem nice mūyı kenār eyler
Perīşān u müşevveşdür ḳara zülfüñ gibi Ca‘fer
‘İnāyet olmasa şehden anı ġam ḫāksār eyler

In English

1. O Lord, what enchantment is this that the rose-cheeked one works, that in the blink of an eye she hunts down so many hearts.

2. O heart, this is not down; dust from her tresses has settled on her cheek, and the cheek is so pure that it shows the dust.

3. Is it any wonder if longing for your cheeks sets the candle burning and turns it to light? What waiting does to a person, even burning fire does not.

4. What is scattered over the world is not fires in the shape of shooting stars; the angels are scattering gold on the dust of that moon's footprint.

5. In the reign of your cheek, is it any wonder if I am dyed with blood from my tears? When spring comes, the falling rain turns the earth into a tulip bed.

6. What is seen in the eye is not lashes; the pupil of my eye, remembering your waist, embraces many a hair at every moment.

7. Ca'fer is distraught and tangled like your black tresses; unless favour comes from the king, grief will lay him in the dust.

Literary and Historical Commentary

In the Blink of an Eye

An everyday idiom sets the ghazal going: "bir göz yumup açınca", in the blink of an eye. The beloved's enchantment is that she hunts so many hearts in the time it takes to blink; within the idiom the eye becomes both the measure of time and the instrument of the hunt. With "eyler" (does, makes) as refrain, the rhyme rings on "-ār": gül-‘ıẕār, şikār, āşikār, intiẓār, nis̱ār, lāle-zār, kenār, ḫāksār. The couplets move forward through a series of "not this, but that" explanations: not down but dust, not shooting stars but gold scattered by angels, not lashes but hairs embraced by the pupil.

Erünsal gives the fourth couplet among his examples of ingenious invented cause (hüsn-i ta'lil). The real cause of the shooting stars that fall and fade at night is set aside and a poetic cause put in its place: the angels are scattering gold on the dust of the beloved's footprint, as coins are scattered at a celebration. The second couplet takes the same road; the down on the cheek is dust fallen from the tresses, and the cheek is so pure that it shows even the smallest dust. The word "ġubār" also recalls the fine gubar script.

The Fire of Waiting

The third couplet compares the candle with waiting. The candle burns with longing for the beloved's cheeks and turns to light; but the second line says that what truly burns is waiting: what expectation does to a person, even burning fire does not. The fifth couplet likens tears to rain and the cheek to spring; spring rain turns the earth into a tulip bed, and the lover's bloody tears dye him with blood. In the sixth the beloved's waist, slender as a hair, is remembered: the lashes in the eye are in fact hairs the pupil embraces in memory of that waist.

In the metre line of the edition the third foot is printed "Mefā‘īün"; the form "mefā‘īlün" is given here. As for the divan manuscripts, Erünsal's thesis has the Hâlet Efendi copy reading "imiş" for "irmiş" in the second couplet, the Paris and Hâlet Efendi copies "dil" for "dilā", and in the fourth couplet "felekler" (the heavens) for "melekler" (the angels). Nazmî did not put the poem in his 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. 345-346, ghazal no. 38. 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. 60 (ingenious invented cause). 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. 38 (variants). https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/17182

Online sources