Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün
Lāle-zār olmışdur āteş-dānlar āzer devridür
Ḳalmadı ḫoş-bū çiçekler şimdi micmer devridür
Āteş olmışdur fürūzān āb olmış müncemid
Ṣākiyā ṣun āb-ı ḫuşkı k’āteş-i ter devridür
Gitse elden ġam degüldür yāsemīn ü erġavān
Sāġar-ı billūr u cām-ı la‘l-peyker devridür
Şimdi k’oldı yiryüzi āyīne-i gītī-nümā
Cām-ı mey nūş eyle kim cām-ı Sikender devridür
Āsumānı gör meh-i nevden ḳadeḥ almış ele
Ya‘ni dir faṣl-ı zemistān irdi sāġar devridür
Lāle-i terden bedel olmışdur āteş-pāreler
Ṣoldı nesrīn ile nergis manḳal-ı zer devridür
İrdi hengām-ı şitā yāḳūt-ı seyyāl al ele
Ca‘ferā ṣarrāf iseñ bil kim ne cevher devridür
In English
1. The braziers have become tulip beds; it is the age of fire; no fragrant flowers are left, now it is the age of the censer.
2. The fire has blazed up, the water has frozen; cupbearer, pour the dry water (wine), for it is the age of wet fire.
3. No grief if jasmine and Judas tree are gone; it is the age of the crystal goblet and the ruby-like cup.
4. Now that the face of the earth has become a world-showing mirror, drink the cup of wine, for it is the age of Alexander's cup.
5. Look at the sky, it has taken a cup in hand from the new moon; that is, it says winter has come, it is the age of the goblet.
6. Pieces of fire (embers) have taken the place of the fresh tulip; the dog rose and the narcissus have faded, it is the age of the golden brazier.
7. The season of winter has come; take the flowing ruby (wine) in your hand; Ca'fer, if you are a money-changer, know what jewel's age this is.
Literary and Historical Commentary
A Brazier in Place of the Garden
This is the second winter poem among the ghazals, after ghazal 20, and in each of its couplets an element of winter takes the place of an element of spring. The refrain is "devridür" (it is the age, the season of), and the rhyme sounds "-er": āzer (fire), micmer (censer), ter (wet), peyker, Sikender, sāġar, zer, cevher. The embers in the braziers of the first couplet resemble tulip beds; the flowers are gone and the censer has taken their place. The sixth couplet repeats the same exchange: pieces of fire have come in place of the fresh tulip, the dog rose and the narcissus have faded and the age of the golden brazier has begun. The colours and scents of the garden have been carried to the hearth in winter.
The second couplet sets up a game of opposites: the water has frozen, the fire has blazed up. The cupbearer is asked for "āb-ı ḫuşk", dry water; this is wine itself, since it flows like water but burns like fire. In the same couplet "āteş-i ter", wet fire, is also wine. The snow-covered earth of the fourth couplet is an "āyīne-i gītī-nümā", a world-showing mirror; this mirror calls up the legendary mirror of Alexander, and the cup the world-showing cup of Jamshid or Alexander. In the Hâlet Efendi copy the link is plainer still: Erünsal's thesis records "cām-ı Cem" (Jamshid's cup) there for "cām-ı mey" (cup of wine).
A Comparison with Şeyhî
The sky of the fifth couplet has taken the new moon in hand like a cup and says that winter is the time of the goblet. The pen-name couplet calls wine "yāḳūt-ı seyyāl", flowing ruby, and turns the poet into a money-changer: if you are a money-changer you know what jewel's age it is. Erünsal compares this couplet with a couplet of Şeyhî with the same refrain: "Bilmezem yāḳūt-ı aḥmer mi lebüñ ya ḳūṭ-ı rūḥ / Bir ṣor ey ṣarrāf-ı devrān kim ne cevher devridür". Both couplets have the ruby, the money-changer and the phrase "ne cevher devridür"; in Erünsal's view Câfer Çelebi builds the same elements with different links and gives the couplet another meaning. In Şeyhî the ruby is the beloved's lip; in Câfer Çelebi it is the wine of the winter gathering.
By the thesis's record, the verb "olmış" of the second couplet appears as "olubdur" in the Paris, Hâlet Efendi and Ayasofya copies. Nazmî gave this winter ghazal no place 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. 347-348, ghazal no. 40. 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. 51 (comparison with Şeyhî). 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. 40 (variants). https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/17182
Online sources
