Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün

Olupdur tīġ-i hecriyle ciger çāk
Eyā yā leyte şi‘rī eyne me’vā-k
Cihān olaydı pür ḥūr u firişte
Le-‘amrī mā ‘arefne’l-‘işḳa levlā-k
Getür cāmı götür yüzden niḳābı
Le-nā ke’sü’l-ḥumeyyā min muḥayyā-k
Lebüñden içmişem āb-ı ḥayātı
Le-ḳad aḥyeyte-nī Allāhü ebḳā-k
Ṭoludur dīde vü dilde ḫayālüñ
Sivā ḳalbī vü ‘aynī leyse maġnā-k
Ṣaḳın ey dil firāḳın ṣanma āsān
Fe-lā terḍā bi-hā iyyā-ke iyyā-k
İşiginde çü virdüñ Ca‘ferā cān
Cezā-ke’llāhü ḥayren ṭābe mes̱vā-k

In English

1. With the sword of separation from you the liver has been torn apart. Ah, would that I knew where your dwelling is.

2. Even if the world were full of houris and angels, by my life, had it not been for you we would not have known love.

3. Bring the cup, lift the veil from your face; our cup of wine comes from your face.

4. I have drunk the water of life from your lip; you have brought me back to life, may God preserve you.

5. Eye and heart are full of your image; apart from my heart and my eye you have no dwelling.

6. O heart, beware, do not think separation from her easy; do not be content with it, beware, beware.

7. O Ca'fer, since you gave up your soul at her threshold, may God reward you with good; may your resting-place be pleasant.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Turkish and Arabic Lines

The ghazal is a mülemma, a macaronic poem: the first line of every couplet is Turkish, the second Arabic. All the Arabic lines end in the sound "-āk", that is, the Arabic second person suffix "-ka/-ki": ma'wā-k (your dwelling), lawlā-k (had it not been for you), muḥayyā-k (your face), abqā-k (may He preserve you), maghnā-k (your abode), iyyā-k (beware), mathwā-k (your resting-place). Rhyme and refrain thus meet in an Arabic suffix of address; the Turkish lines meanwhile speak on their own and also serve as a preface to the Arabic line. The metre is the short hezec pattern often used in mesnevis (Mefā‘īlün Mefā‘īlün Fe‘ūlün); the short lines make the Arabic sentences sound like prayers or exclamations.

Câfer Çelebi came of a family well versed in Arabic; Erünsal reports that in the Topkapı Palace Museum Archive, in an envelope containing poems of poets of the time of Bayezid II, there is an Arabic kaside of his, probably written in his own hand. The Arabic lines of this ghazal, however, are not learned but close to speech: they are built from everyday Arabic formulas of prayer and exclamation, such as "would that I knew", "by my life", "may God preserve you", "beware, beware".

Lawlāk and Mathwā

The Arabic line of the second couplet, "La-‘amrī mā ‘arafna'l-‘ishqa lawlā-k", means "by my life, had it not been for you we would not have known love". For the Ottoman reader the word "lawlāk" recalls the saying reported as spoken of the Prophet, "Had it not been for you, I would not have created the heavens"; the poet applies the structure of this saying to the beloved: even if the world were full of houris and angels, love is known only through the beloved. The lip in the fourth couplet is the water of life; drinking it, the lover has come back to life, and he wishes the beloved long life.

The pen-name couplet closes like a prayer at a grave. "Ṭāba mathwā-k" means "may your resting-place be pleasant" and is a formula of prayer said for the dead. Ca'fer has given up his soul at the beloved's threshold; the poet wishes him God's reward and a peaceful grave. The sixth couplet's "iyyā-ka iyyā-k", "beware, beware", is a stern warning given to the heart. The "dīde vü" of the fifth couplet appears as "dīdede" in the Paris copy; Nazmî did not take this macaronic poem into 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. 397-398, ghazal no. 97. https://ekitap.ktb.gov.tr/TR-211662/taci-zade-cafer-celebi-divani.html
  • İsmail E. Erünsal, "Hayatı ve Eserleri", introduction to Tâcî-zâde Ca‘fer Çelebi Dîvânı, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), p. 7 (the Arabic kaside in the Topkapı Palace Museum Archive). 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. 97 (variants). https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/17182

Online sources