Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Şem‘ beñzerdi saña ser-tā-ḳadem cān olsa şem‘
Yā ruḫ-ı pür-nūr ile ḫurşīd-i raḫşān olsa şem‘
Öykünürdi ṭal‘at-ı yār-ı perī-ruḫsāruma
Ḥüsn ile āşūb-ı ‘aḳl u āfet-i cān olsa şem‘
Gizlenseñ gözden yüzüñ göñlüm ḳarardur rūz-ı ġam
Ḫāne ẓulmet içre ḳalur gice pinhān olsa şem‘
Sāḳiyā şem‘i n’idersin şem‘a var mı iḥtiyāc
Bezmde rūşen çiçeklerden hezārān olsa şem‘
Berg-rīz olmış şükūfe bāġa beñzer gül gelür
Kim eve mihmān gelür dirler gül-efşān olsa şem‘
Arturur şevḳ-i derūnum lāle vü gül ṣoḥbeti
Ḫānenüñ rūşenligi artar firāvān olsa şem‘
Ḫūbdur güller velīkin rūy-ı yāra beñzemez
Ca‘ferā virmez güneş ḥükmini çendān olsa şem‘

In English

1. The candle would resemble you if it were soul from head to foot, or if it were the shining sun with a face full of light.

2. The candle would imitate the face of my fairy-cheeked beloved if in beauty it were the confounder of reason and the bane of the soul.

3. If you hide your face from sight, my heart darkens on the day of grief; if the candle is hidden at night, the house is left in darkness.

4. O cupbearer, what do you want with the candle, what need is there of candles, when there are thousands of candles of bright flowers at the gathering?

5. The rose is coming like an orchard of blossoms shedding their leaves; they say that when the candle scatters roses, a guest comes to the house.

6. The converse of tulip and rose increases the longing within me; the brightness of the house increases if candles are plentiful.

7. Roses are lovely, but they do not resemble the beloved's face; O Ca'fer, however many candles there are, they cannot do the work of the sun.

Literary and Historical Commentary

When the Candle Scatters Roses

The fifth couplet carries a popular belief into poetry. At the tip of a burning candle's wick a charred lump resembling a flower sometimes forms; this is called the candle's blossoming or scattering roses, and it is taken as a sign that a guest will come to the house. Câfer Çelebi ties this belief to the spring season: the rose too is coming, like orchards of blossom shedding their leaves; and since the candle has scattered roses, the expected guest of the house is the rose itself. An everyday household belief becomes a sign announcing the coming of the season.

The ghazal is built on a long refrain: "olsa şem‘", "if the candle were". Each couplet sets the candle within a condition and compares it with the beloved, the sun or the flowers. The rhyme words all end in "-ān": cān, raḫşān, cān, pinhān, hezārān, gül-efşān, firāvān, çendān. Through the opening and second couplets the candle tries to resemble the beloved, but could do so only if it were soul or sun; in the pen-name couplet, too, the candle, however plentiful, cannot exercise the sun's rule.

Candles of Flowers

The fourth and sixth couplets describe a spring gathering. Because brightly coloured flowers burn like thousands of candles at the gathering, there is no need to ask the cupbearer for a candle; the converse of tulip and rose increases longing, just as plentiful candles increase the brightness of the house. The tulip's red colour and cup shape are often likened in divan poetry to a candle and a flame.

Where the KTB edition reads "Gizlenseñ" in the third couplet, Erünsal's thesis has "Gizleseñ", the reading that fits the metre. In the thesis the Hâlet Efendi copy reads "dūd-ı ġam" (the smoke of grief) for "rūz-ı ġam" in the same couplet, and the Paris and Hâlet Efendi copies "çünki" for "gice". The Paris and Hâlet Efendi copies have "tābān" for "raḫşān" in the opening couplet. The Paris copy omits the word "olsa" in the fifth couplet. Nazmî's anthology of response poems does not include it.

Bibliography

Online sources