Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Dem mi var kim lāleyi şevḳüñ cigerḫūn eylemez
Nergisi cādū gözüñ siḥr ile meftūn eylemez
Münkir-i ‘ışḳ olsa ṭañ mı zāhid-i efsürde-dil
Ṭab‘-ı nā-mevzūn ḫayāl-i şekl-i mevzūn eylemez
Var ümīdüm k’idesin gözüm yaşına bir naẓar
Sā’ili şāhā kerīm olan çü maġbūn eylemez
Ola kim bend ide diyü leyli-yi zülfüñ göñül
Şol delülükler ider kim anı Mecnūn eylemez
Ca‘fer alduḳça dehānına leb ü dendānuñı
Ṣanma naẓmın cān-feşān u dürr-i meknūn eylemez

In English

1. Is there a moment when longing for you does not make the tulip bleed at heart, when the narcissus of your witching eye does not bewitch it with sorcery?

2. Is it any wonder if the ascetic of frozen heart denies love? A nature without measure cannot imagine a well-measured form.

3. O king, I hope you will cast a glance at my tears; for the generous one does not send a beggar away empty-handed.

4. In the hope that the night (the Leylâ) of your tresses will bind it, the heart commits such madness as not even Mecnûn committed.

5. Whenever Ca'fer takes your lips and teeth into his mouth, do not think his verse fails to become soul-scattering, a hidden pearl.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Measured and Unmeasured

The second couplet is built almost entirely of Persian and Arabic words, with Persian genitive constructions, and Erünsal cites it as an example of such couplets: "Münkir-i ‘ışḳ olsa ṭañ mı zāhid-i efsürde-dil / Ṭab‘-ı nā-mevzūn ḫayāl-i şekl-i mevzūn eylemez." The conceit of the couplet lies in the word "mevzūn". It means both measured, well-proportioned, shapely, and metrical, measured speech. The nature of the frozen-hearted ascetic is "nā-mevzūn", unmeasured, deaf to poetry; such a nature cannot imagine the beloved's "mevzun", shapely, stature. The ascetic's denial of love is therefore no surprise. The rhyme "-ūn" precedes the refrain "eylemez" (does not): ciğerḫūn, meftūn, mevzūn, maġbūn, Mecnūn, meknūn.

The first couplet sets two questions one on top of the other and leaves the answer to the reader: there is no moment when longing for the beloved does not make the tulip bleed at heart, when the narcissus of the witching eye does not bewitch. The dark spot inside the tulip is the sign of a "bleeding liver", the drooping look of the narcissus the sign of bewitchment. The third couplet has the lover liken himself to a beggar and the beloved to a generous king; the generous do not leave a beggar "maġbūn", cheated and empty-handed.

The Night of Leylâ

The word "leylī" in the fourth couplet calls up both night and Leylâ. So that the night of the tresses may bind it, the heart commits madness beyond even Mecnûn's. The pen-name couplet closes with "dürr-i meknūn", the "hidden pearl", a phrase recalling the place in the Qur'an where the houris of Paradise are described: whenever Ca'fer takes the beloved's lips and teeth into his mouth, that is, into his speech, his poetry becomes a soul-scattering pearl. The variants concern word order and a possessive suffix: Erünsal's thesis has the Paris copy reading "kim ider" for "ider kim" in the fourth couplet and the Manchester copy "dehānuña" for "dehānına" in the last. Nazmî did not admit the ghazal to 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. 371-372, ghazal no. 66. 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. 58 (couplets heavy with Persian and Arabic). 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. 66 (variants). https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/17182

Online sources