Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ben dil-efgāruñ olup dün gice mihmānı ḳamer
Ṣubḥa dek ḳıldı münevver ‘ālem-i cānı ḳamer
İstedüm būs u kinār ol māh-ı tābāndan didi
Būse virmez kimseye bilmez misin anı ḳamer
Bu ṣıfatda görmedüm nesl-i beşer didüm didi
Şimdi mi bildüñ degüldür ādem oġlanı ḳamer
Girye ile gire mi ġam günlerinde yār ele
Kim görinmez gicenüñ kim ola bārānı ḳamer
Ca‘ferüñ kolı umaram bilüñe ola kemer
Ḳavse gelmek çünki var ey ḥüsn sulṭānı ḳamer

In English

1. Last night the moon was the guest of me, the wounded-hearted; until dawn the moon lit up the world of my soul.

2. I asked that shining moon for a kiss and an embrace; it said, "Do you not know that the moon gives no one a kiss?"

3. I said, "I have never seen one of human race with such qualities"; it said, "Have you only now understood? The moon is no child of Adam."

4. Is the beloved won by weeping in days of grief? Whoever has rain in his night does not see the moon.

5. O sultan of beauty, I hope Ca'fer's arm will become a belt round your waist; for the moon does come into Sagittarius, the Bow.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Night with the Moon

From beginning to end the ghazal describes the beloved as the moon, and "ḳamer", moon, is its refrain; but this moon speaks, comes as a guest and turns down requests. First the moon is the lover's guest and lights up the world of his soul until dawn. The second and third couplets are a dialogue: the lover asks or requests, the moon answers. Câfer Çelebi's divan has couplets built in question-and-answer form, and Erünsal notes them as a feature of his style; in this ghazal the conversation runs over two couplets. The rhyme turns on "-ānı": mihmānı, cānı, anı, oġlanı, bārānı, sulṭānı.

The moon's answers come from its own nature. Asked for a kiss, it says "the moon gives no one a kiss": the moon is far away and cannot be touched. When told that such beauty has never been seen in the human race, it replies "Have you only now understood? The moon is no child of Adam." The beloved's superhuman beauty is thus explained by the moon's being in the sky. In this conversation the moon speaks of itself in the third person, and this haughty tone suits the beloved's coyness.

A Rainy Night and the Sign of the Bow

The fourth couplet turns an observation of nature into counsel: on a rainy night the moon is not seen. As long as the lover weeps, that is, as long as rain falls on his night, he cannot see the moon; tears do not bring him to the beloved but hide her. The last couplet speaks the language of astronomy. In its course through the sky the moon enters the sign of the Bow (Kavs, Sagittarius); and the bow is a bent shape like a belt. So the lover is hopeful: as the moon comes into the Bow, his arm may wind round the beloved's waist like a belt. One copy, according to Erünsal's thesis, turns the question of the third couplet into a statement, reading "Şimdi" for "Şimdi mi". This moon ghazal is not in 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. 365-366, ghazal no. 59. 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 (statements in question-and-answer form). 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. 59 (variant). https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/17182

Online sources