Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilün
Bu ḳadar ḥasrete ṣabr idemezem sulṭânım
Dîdeler yaş yerine aḳıdıyorlar ḳanım
‘Acebâ ḫâṭır-ı ‘âṭırda gezer mi nâmım
Yoḫsa peyġûle-i nisyâna mı atdıñ ḫânım
Ḫâṭır-ı fâtirimi ṣormamaḳ olmuş saña ḫuy
Göziñe ḳılca görinmez bu ḳadar giryânım
Dimediñ nâr-ı firâḳıñla naṣıldır ḥâliñ
Neye müncer olacaḳ gözleyelim nâlânım
Leb-i la‘liñ gibi çeşmim ḳızarır firḳat ile
Ġavṭa-zendir yemm-i ḫûn içre dilâ müjgânım
Niçe ârâm ideyim sensiz eyâ şâh-ı ḥüsn
Sitem-i ḫüzn ile âvîze gibi lerzânım
Dilimi câ-yı sürûr eyle dilâ vuṣlat ile
Ḳuluñam ḫâk-ı peyim ḫâk-i dere yeksânım
Gelivir ḳandasın ey âfet-i devrân ḳanda
Güleyim vaṣlıñ ile bir daḫı ‘âli-şânım
Ay kim dûr olalı sen şeh-i ḫûbânımdan
Ṣûretiñ ḫâne-i dilde şeb ü rûz mihmânım
İderem âh ile evḳâtımı her dem imrâr
Yine senden olacak derdime cân dermânım
Bu güzellikde saña yoḳsa dil-ârâ ems̱âl
Bulunur mı ya benim ‘aşḳda hîç aḳrânım
Niçe bir hecriñ ile bu dil-i pür-ġam yanacaḳ
Ay kim ṭaş degilim ben daḥı bir insânım
Çile-i ‘aşḳı temâm eyleyüp oldum Kâmil
Ba‘demâ mürşid-i ‘aşḳ okunacaḳ ‘unvânım
In English
1. My sultan, I cannot bear so much longing; instead of tears my eyes are shedding my blood.
2. I wonder, does my name wander in your fragrant memory, or have you cast me into the corner of oblivion, my khan?
3. It has become your habit not to ask after my heart worn out by separation; all this weeping of mine does not appear in your eyes even the size of a hair.
4. You did not say, "How are you in the fire of separation from me?"; let us see what my moaning will come to.
5. With separation my eye turns red like your ruby lips; O heart, my lashes are divers in a sea of blood.
6. O king of beauty, how am I to find rest without you; with the reproach of sorrow I tremble like a chandelier.
7. Make my heart a place of joy with union; I am your slave, the dust of your feet, levelled with the dust of your door.
8. Where are you, O calamity of the age, where; come now, my exalted one, let me laugh once more in union with you.
9. Ah, since you, king of the fair, went far from me, your image has been my guest night and day in the house of the heart.
10. Every moment I pass my hours in sighing; the cure for my pain will come from you again.
11. O heart-adorner, if you have no equal in this beauty, could anyone match me in love?
12. How long will this sorrowing heart burn with longing for you; ah, I too am not a stone, I am a human being.
13. Having completed the ordeal of love I have become perfect (kâmil); from now on my title will be read as master guide of love.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The ghazal has thirteen couplets and is written in the "fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilün" pattern. The redif is the possessive suffix "-ım", the rhyme the sound "-ân": "sulṭânım, ḳanım, nâmım, ḫânım, giryânım, nâlânım, müjgânım" and so on. The pen name appears in the last couplet. In Avni Erdemir's text the note "(s.58)" stands before the second line of the last couplet; since the poem is on pages 66-68 of the manuscript, the note should read "p. 68" and may be a typesetting error. To whom and when it was written is not known.
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The ghazal is the longing and reproach of a lover who addresses the beloved as "sulṭânım", "ḫânım", "şâh-ı ḥüsn" and "‘âli-şânım". In the first couplets the lover fears being forgotten: does his name wander in the beloved's memory, or has he been cast into the corner of oblivion? The third and fourth couplets reproach the beloved's indifference; all this weeping does not appear in her eyes even the size of a hair. In the fifth couplet the reddened eye is likened to ruby lips, and the lashes swimming in a sea of bloody tears to divers. In the sixth couplet the trembling lover resembles a chandelier. These similes are familiar mazmuns of divan poetry; the chandelier, however, is a more concrete image taken from the interior of a house. This last observation is ours.
In the ninth couplet the beloved's image is a guest in the house of the heart night and day; distance is answered by the nearness of the image. "I too am not a stone, I am a human being" in the twelfth couplet is the plainest line of the ghazal and the closest to spoken language. The last couplet ties the poem to a mystical conclusion: the lover has completed the ordeal of love and become "kâmil", perfect, and from now on his title will be read as "master guide of love". "Çile" (ordeal, the forty-day retreat) and "mürşid" (spiritual guide) are words of Sufi order life; "Kâmil" denotes both the perfected person and the poet's pen name. Erdemir's finding that the words belonging to the beloved are used in a mystical sense in Kâmil's poems is clearly seen in this couplet.
Bibliography
- Avni Erdemir, "Amasyalı Abdurrahman Kâmil (Yetkin) Efendi'nin Şairliği ve Türkçe Şiirleri", Amasya İlahiyat Dergisi, 12, June 2019, pp. 192-193, doi:10.18498/amailad.579964. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/amailad/article/579964
- Mecdîzâde Abdurrahman Kâmil, Divançe, National Library of Turkey, Manuscripts Collection, Yz. A 8993, pp. 66-68 (author's autograph).
Online sources
