Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Çü göneldüñ sefere luṭf-ı Ḫüdā yāruñ ola
Baḫt hem-rāh u du‘ā ḳāfile-sālāruñ ola
Devlet ü ‘izz ü sa‘ādet saña rehber oluban
Ḳanda kim ḳonasın Allāh nigehdāruñ ola
Götürüp ġāşiye-i zülfüñi dūşında ṣabā
Peyk-i āhum gibi ol daḫi hevādāruñ ola
Türk-i çeşmüñ gibi her ḳanda ki reh-zen var ise
Dil-i ‘uşşāḳ gibi zār u giriftāruñ ola
Dōstum olmaya kim gözden ıraġ olmaġla
Unıdup Ca‘feri ġayrı kişiler yāruñ ola

In English

1. Since you have set out on your journey, may God's grace be your companion; may fortune be your fellow traveller and prayer the leader of your caravan.

2. May fortune, honour and felicity guide you, and wherever you halt, may God be your guardian.

3. May the morning breeze, too, carrying the saddle cloth of your tresses on its shoulder like the courier of my sighs, be your devoted servant. ("Hevādār" means both a devoted attendant and one who travels through the air; the breeze and the sigh both move through the air.)

4. Wherever there is a highwayman like your Turk eye, may he be your moaning captive, like the hearts of lovers.

5. My friend, let it not happen that, being far from sight, you forget Ca'fer and others become your beloved.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Prayer for the Traveller

A farewell gives the ghazal its occasion. The beloved has set out on a journey, and the lover says a traveller's prayer after her. The refrain "-uñ ola" (may it be your …), in the mood of a prayer, gives the beloved a companion, a protector or a servant in each couplet: in the first God's grace, fortune and prayer; in the second fortune, honour and felicity; in the third the morning breeze. The rhyme words follow one another as yār, sālār, nigehdār, hevādār, giriftār and yār again. To whom it was written is not known; the poem gives no clue beyond the fact that the beloved has set out on a journey.

The choice of words brings a caravan journey to life. Fellow traveller (hem-rāh), caravan leader (ḳāfile-sālār), halting (ḳonmaḳ), guardian (nigehdār), courier (peyk) and highwayman (reh-zen) are drawn from the same field and weave a net of congruent images (tenasüp) across the couplets. The morning breeze of the third couplet carries the beloved's tresses as a servant carries on his shoulder the saddle cloth (ġāşiye) of a great man's horse. Carrying the saddle cloth was a sign of allegiance in the customs of the palace and great households; the wind's stirring of the tresses is turned into this ceremonial service.

The Eye That Robs the Road

The fourth couplet works a well-known simile of divan poetry in reverse. The beloved's eye, called a "Turk", is a highwayman who steals the hearts of passers-by. The lover wishes that any real brigands the beloved might meet on her journey should also become captives of this eye: let those who would rob the road moan like the hearts of lovers and fall prisoner to her. In this way the prayer both protects the beloved and sets her beauty above the dangers of the road.

The last couplet states the real worry behind the farewell. The words "gözden ıraġ olmaġla" (by being far from sight) recall the proverb that what is far from the eye is far from the heart; the lover fears that as the separation lengthens others will take his place. The leaning on everyday speech that Erünsal sees in Câfer Çelebi can be felt here too. Of the five copies listed in Erünsal's thesis (Manchester, Cairo, Paris, Hâlet Efendi, Ayasofya), the first two spell the opening word "Çün" rather than "Çü".

Bibliography

Online sources