h:

_Dinleh bulbul kissa sen kim gildi eiyami behar!
Kurdi her bir baghda hengamei hengami behar;
Oldi sim afshan ana ezhari badami behar:
Ysh u nush it kim gicher kalmaz bu eiyami behar._

Here we have an example of the _redif_, which is common
in Turkish and Persian poetry, and "consists of one or
more words, always the same, added to the end of every
rhyming line in a poem, which word or words, though
counting in the scansion, are not regarded as the true
rhyme, which must in every case be sought for
immediately before them. The lines--

There shone such truth about thee,
I did not dare to doubt thee--

furnish an example of this in English poetry." In the
opening verse of Mesihi's ode, as above transliterated
in European characters, the _redif_ is "behar," or
spring, and the word which precedes it is the true
rhyme-ending. Sir William Jones has made an elegant
paraphrase of this charming ode, in which, however, he
diverges considerably from the original, as will be seen
from his rendering of the first stanza:

Hear how the nightingale, on every spray,
Hails in wild notes the sweet return of May!
The gale, that o'er yon waving almond blows,
The verdant bank with silver blossoms strows;
The smiling season decks each flowery glade--
Be gay; too soon the flowers of spring will fade.

This Turkish poet's maxim, it will be observed, was "enjoy the present
day"--the _carpe diem_ of Horace, the genial old pagan. On the same
suggestive theme of Springtide a celebrated Turkish poetess, Fitnet
Khanim (for the Ottoman Turks have poetesses of considerable genius as
well as poets), has composed a pleasing ode, addressed to her lord, of
which the following stanzas are also from Mr. Gibb's collection:

The fresh spring-clouds across all earth their glistening pearls
profuse now sow;
The flowers, too, all appearing, forth the radiance of their beauty
show;
Of mirth and joy 'tis now the time, the hour, to wander to and fro;
The palm-tree o'er the fair ones' pic-nic gay its grateful shade
doth throw.

_O Liege, come forth! From end to end with verdure doth the whole
earth glow;
'Tis springtide once again, once more the tulips and the roses blow!_