Translation of an excerpt from the "Hilya-i Sharifa"

Excerpt from "Hilya-i Sharifa" (Hilye-i Şerif) of Mehmet Hakani (d. 1606).

Source: A History of Ottoman poetry, Volume 3. By Elias John Wilkinson Gibb (1857–1901). Luzac, 1904 (Google Books).

Translation of the section on the detail 'bright of blee':


 * All of the folk hereon agree,
 * That the Pride of the World was bright of blee,
 * Full sheen was the radiance of his face,
 * His cheeks were lustrous with lustre's grace.
 * One of heart with the rose was his face's hue;
 * Like the rose, unto ruddiness it drew.
 * Yeled his face in the light of delight,
 * 'Twas the Chapter of Light of the dawn of light.
 * The scripture of beauty was that fair face;
 * The down on his cheek was the verse of grace.
 * Shamed by his visage bright as day,
 * Life's Fountain hid in the dark away.
 * Well may the comrades of joyance call:
 * 'The sheen of his visage conquers all!'
 * Yon radiant face shone in the sky,
 * The light of the harem-feast on high.
 * The Portrait-painter of Nature gave
 * Thereto all beauty that man may have.
 * When the sweat upon that Sultan stood
 * He was forsoth like the rose bedewed.