Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Tîr-i müjesine dime dil mürgı urulmaz
Ebrûlarının yâyı kolayına kurulmaz
Âvâre gönül hâtıra-i vasl ile her şeb
Allah ki görür vâkı'alar hîç yorulmaz
Uşşâk tavâf itmede bir mertebe kesret
Kim Ka'be-i kûyunda durulmaz oturulmaz

In English

1. Do not say the bird of the heart cannot be struck by the arrow of her lashes; the bow of her eyebrows is not drawn lightly (once drawn, its arrow is sure to strike).

2. Every night the wandering heart, thinking of union, sees visions, by God, and never tires.

3. So many are the lovers circling in devotion that in the Kaaba of her street one can neither stand nor sit.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Whose Ghazal

These three couplets are probably the famous ghazal that Riyâzî describes as "Ümîdî-i sâbık nâmına şâyî", circulating under the name of the earlier Ümîdî. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar quotes this ghazal first from Kâfzâde Fâizî's anthology, then a second ghazal with the words "this too is his"; after giving Riyâzî's remark he says, "this ghazal has been written above". The singular, and the way this poem is introduced specifically with "this ghazal of his is recorded", suggest that it is the one meant; the text does not say so outright. Who Riyâzî's earlier Ümîdî was is not stated either. Both anthologists give the ghazal to Receb Ümîdî of Merzifon, but in their day it was circulating under another name.

Arrow, Dream and Circumambulation

The lines of the ghazal answer one another with "urulmaz, kurulmaz, yorulmaz, oturulmaz", and each couplet describes something impossible or a state without end. The first couplet is built on the imagery of archery: the lashes are arrows, the eyebrows a bow. "Kolayına kurulmaz", it is not drawn lightly, implies that the bow of the eyebrow is not easily bent, but that when it is, the arrow is sure to find its mark; so it is vain to think the bird of the heart will not be hit. The "vâkı'a" of the second couplet is a dream or spiritual vision seen at night. The wandering heart dreams of union every night and never wearies of these dreams; the interjected "Allah ki", by God, brings the oath of everyday speech into the poem.

The last couplet is the wittiest moment of the ghazal. The beloved's street is a Kaaba, and the lovers circle it in devotion. The crowd of the circling is so great that one can neither stand nor sit there. In the real circumambulation, too, one walks without stopping; the poet applies this familiar picture of the holy place to the throng of lovers. The three couplets carry no pen name; Kâfzâde probably selected part of the ghazal. Riyâzî's note and the poet's years as imam of the Bezirgân Mosque are given in detail in Ümîdî Receb Efendi of Merzifon.

Bibliography

Online sources