Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ḳadd-i dil-cūy ile k’ol serv-i revān olsa gerek
Ṣu gibi cānlar ayaġına revān olsa gerek
Gözi cān mülkini yaġmaga virüp ġamzeleri
Fitne-i ‘ālem ü āşūb-ı cihān olsa gerek
Deheni şevḳi ile yoġ oluben lāle vü gül
Ġoncanuñ baġrı leb-ā-leb ṭolu ḳan olsa gerek
Niçe cān ḳaşlarınuñ yayına ḳurbān oluben
Niçe dil ġamzesi oḳına nişān olsa gerek
Ḫasta Ca‘fer ġam u derdiyle ölüp ḫāki anuñ
Ḫoş ziyāretgeh-i ‘uşşāḳ-ı zamān olsa gerek

In English

1. When that swaying cypress walks with her heart-seeking stature, souls must flow like water to her feet.

2. Her eye, sending its glances to plunder the realm of souls, must be the mischief of the world and the tumult of the age.

3. If tulip and rose perish with longing for her mouth, the bud's breast must be full to the brim with blood.

4. Many a soul must be sacrificed to the bow of her brows, and many a heart must be the target of the arrow of her glance.

5. If the sick Ca'fer dies of grief and pain for her, his dust must become a pleasant shrine for the lovers of the age.

Literary and Historical Commentary

A Walking Cypress, Flowing Water

The opening couplet is built on a complete pun, and Erünsal mentions it among the examples of complete pun in the divan. The word "revān" is used in the first line in the phrase "serv-i revān", the walking, swaying cypress; in the second, in the expression "revān olmak", to flow, to run. Two words identical in spelling and pronunciation are placed with two different meanings just before the refrain. A water image is hidden in the couplet too: the second part of the word "dil-cūy" (heart-seeking, heart-attracting), "cūy", means stream in Persian; and cypresses grow by water. The beloved's stature is a cypress on a stream bank, and the lovers' souls flow like water to her feet.

The refrain is "olsa gerek"; the expression conveys not certainty but conjecture: "it must be", "so it must be". Each couplet of the ghazal is therefore in the form of an inference. "-ān" recurs in the rhyme words: revān, revān, cihān, ḳan, nişān, zamān. Şeyhî's ghazal with the opening "Yine bâd-ı seherî hemdem-i cân olsa gerek" is the model for this refrain, and Nazmî gives Câfer Çelebi's poem among the responses to it. In Şeyhî's opening the dawn breeze becomes the soul's companion and the old world grows young; Câfer Çelebi, with the same refrain, describes not a spring morning but a beloved walking.

A Bloody Bud and a Shrine of Lovers

The third couplet draws a conclusion. Tulip and rose are perishing with longing for the beloved's small mouth; then the breast of the bud that has not yet opened must be full to the brim with blood. The redness inside the bud is explained as blood gathered from envy of the beloved's mouth. The eye of the second couplet is a commander sending its glances to plunder the land of souls; so it is counted the mischief of the world.

The pen-name couplet considers the lover's fame after death: if Ca'fer dies of grief for the beloved, his dust, that is, his grave, will become a place visited by the lovers of the age. The tradition of visiting the tombs of saints and martyrs is applied to the grave of a martyr of love. In the fourth couplet the Cairo and Manchester copies read "yaṣına" (to the mourning of) for "yayına" (to the bow of); in the last the Hâlet Efendi copy has "cihān" for "zamān". In the circle Kemâl-i Zerd comes before Câfer Çelebi, and after him Münîr, Ferîdî, Mahmûdî and Nazmî.

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. 396-397, ghazal no. 95. 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. 65 (examples of complete pun). 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. 95 (variants). https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/17182

Official sources

Online sources