O eye, do not sprinkle the water of tears on the fires burning in my heart; for water is of no help to fires that blaze like this.
Saçma ey göz eşkden gönlümdeki odlare su
Kim bu denlü dutuşan odlare kılmaz çâre su
Fuzuli, Turkish Dîvân, the Water Ode ("Kasîde der Na't-i Hazret-i Nebevî"), opening couplet (16th century).
A whole ode leans on a single syllable.
Water.
Every couplet ends with the same word.
To tell of the greatest fire
Fuzuli chooses the most ordinary thing.
In the very first couplet he says
water is no cure for this fire.
The chapter arrives here.
From a single word of Yunus
to two words of Hafez,
a path that keeps paring down.
In the end one syllable remains.
Saying it is not easy either.