Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün

Gördi gül ḥüsnüñi ‘aḳlı ṭaġılup ḥayrāndur
Ol sebebden yüzine ebr gülāb-efāndur
Ḥüsn ile Yūsuf-ı Mıṣrī olana baḳmaz iken
Bir ‘azīzüñ ḳulını sevdi göñül sulṭāndur
Ġonca öykündi dehānuña dimişler ṣanemā
Açmadı aġzını yoḳ yire aña bühtāndur
Olsa babında raḳībüñ n’ola sevdā-yı ḫaṭuñ
Ṭañ degül bitse sifāl içre çün ol reyḥāndur
Ḫādim olduġı-çün eşküm işigüñde şehā
Gāh yāḳūt olur adı vü gehī mercāndur
Pīrehen içre ki nāzük bedenüñ oldı nihān
Perde-i ġoncada gūyā gül-i ter pinhāndur
N’ola ger şevḳüñ ile na‘reler itse Ca‘fer
Sen gül-i tāzesin ol bülbül-i ḫoş-elḥāndur

In English

1. The rose saw your beauty; its wits scattered and it was lost in wonder; that is why the cloud sprinkles rose water on its face.

2. While the heart would not even look at one who was a Joseph of Egypt in beauty, it loved the servant of a great man; the heart is a sultan, it does as it pleases.

3. O idol, they say the bud imitated your mouth; it did not even open its mouth, this is a groundless slander against it.

4. What wonder if passion for your down is found at the rival's door? It is no wonder if it grows in a broken pot, for it is sweet basil.

5. O king, because my tears are servants at your threshold, their name is now Ruby, now Coral.

6. When your delicate body was hidden within your shirt, it was as if a fresh rose lay hidden behind the veil of the bud.

7. What wonder if Ca'fer cries out with longing for you? You are a fresh rose, and he is a sweet-voiced nightingale.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Fainting Rose

An ingenious invented cause (hüsn-i ta'lil) stands at the head of the ghazal. The spring clouds' letting fall drops of dew and rain on the rose petals is tied to a poetic cause: the rose saw the beloved's beauty, lost its wits and fainted, and the cloud, following the custom of sprinkling rose water on the face of one who has fainted, sprinkles water on its face. The rhyme on "-ān" is tied to the refrain "-dur": ḥayrān, gülāb-efān, sulṭān, bühtān, reyḥān, mercān, pinhān, ḫoş-elḥān.

The second couplet gives a subtle turn to the story of Joseph. After being sold by his brothers, Joseph became the slave of the Aziz of Egypt. The lover's heart, which would not look even at those who were Josephs in beauty, has loved "the servant of an aziz", one in the service of a great man. So the beloved seems to be Joseph himself, the slave of the Aziz. The phrase "göñül sulṭāndur" at the end of the line is a saying that the heart is a ruler answerable to no one.

Servants Named Ruby and Coral

The fifth couplet rests on a social reality. In palaces and great households, servants and slave stewards were often given the names of jewels, such as Yakut (Ruby), Mercan (Coral) or Cevher (Jewel). The lover's tears have become servants at the beloved's threshold, and according to their colour they take the name now of Ruby, now of Coral: the bloody tear resembles the red ruby, the tears strung drop by drop resemble coral. The fourth couplet, too, holds an everyday observation: sweet basil is grown in broken pots and planters. The rival's door is a broken pot, and passion for the beloved's basil-like down may grow even there.

The third couplet defends the bud against the rumour that it imitated the beloved's mouth: the bud has not even opened its mouth, and the slander against it is groundless. In the sixth the delicate body inside the shirt becomes a fresh rose hidden inside the veil of the bud. In the last couplet the Hâlet Efendi and Ayasofya copies turn "na‘reler" (cries) into "naġmeler" (melodies); Erünsal's thesis also records "geh" for "gehī" in the fifth couplet of the Manchester and Cairo copies. Nazmî's anthology does not contain the ghazal.

Bibliography

Online sources