Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Müfte‘ilün Fâ‘ilün Müfte‘ilün Fâ‘ilün

Aldım ele nâmeñi baş ayaḳ itdüm naẓar
Dildeki âteşiñe ḫaylice itdim keder
Ḫâcecigim ba‘d ez-în ben seni itmem ḫazîn
Ḫidmet ile ẕâtıña göñlüñ idem zîb ü zîn
Âteş-i firḳat ile cân u diliñ yaḳmazam
Her kişiniñ pâyına ṣu gibi ben aḳmazam
Kûşe-i hicrânda ḫâṭırın itmem ḫarâb
Her söziñe virmezem ba‘demâ acı cevâb
Şem‘-i ruḫumdan imiş rûz şeb tâb-ı diliñ
Şevḳ ile maḫlûṭ imiş añladım âb u giliñ
Ṣıdḳda mümtâzsıñ şevḳda serbâzsıñ
Ṭutmada her emrimi ‘âşıḳ-ı bî-nâzsıñ
Bu gice teşrîf idem külbe-i aḫzânıñı
Vaṣl ile âbâd idem hem dil-i vîrânıñı
Ḥâl-i diliñ ṣorayım pâyiñe yüz süreyim
Âteş-i ḥasret ile niçedir ol göreyim
Tâ ki ḫulûṣ-ı diliñ Kâmil idem özüme
Baḳasın leyl ü nehâr yüzüme hem gözüme

In English

1. I took your letter in my hand and looked it over from head to foot; I was much grieved by the fire in your heart.

2. My dear little master, from now on I will not sadden you; let me adorn and array your heart with my service.

3. I will not burn your soul and heart with the fire of separation; nor do I flow like water to everyone's feet.

4. I will not ruin your heart in the corner of separation; from now on I will not give a bitter answer to your every word.

5. So the burning of your heart, night and day, came from the candle of my cheek; I have understood that your water and clay (your very making) are kneaded with longing.

6. You are distinguished in faithfulness, a hero who risks his head in longing; in keeping my every command you are a lover without airs.

7. Tonight let me honour your hut of sorrows; let me make your ruined heart flourish with union.

8. Let me ask after the state of your heart and lay my face at your feet; let me see how it fares in the fire of longing.

9. So that I may make the sincerity of your heart perfect (kâmil) for myself; let it gaze at my face and my eyes night and day.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The nine-couplet mesnevi is written in the "müfte‘ilün fâ‘ilün müfte‘ilün fâ‘ilün" pattern. The couplets rhyme within themselves, and in several of them the rhyme is carried into the middle of the line as well: "yaḳmazam / aḳmazam", "mümtâzsıñ / serbâzsıñ", "ṣorayım / süreyim / göreyim". The pen name appears in the last couplet. Avni Erdemir gives the text of the poem but offers no separate assessment of it; to whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The speaker of the poem is not the lover but the beloved. In the first couplet the beloved says she has read the lover's letter from beginning to end and is grieved by the fire in it; in the following couplets she promises not to sadden him again, not to answer him bitterly, and to come that night to his hut of sorrows. Letters from lover to beloved are common in divan poetry; here the side of the reply has been written. This reading and the observations below are ours.

The address "Ḫâcecigim" in the second couplet is striking. The word means "my dear little master" or "my dear hoca", showing the beloved speaking to the lover as to a teacher. Since the poem was written by a madrasa teacher and preacher, the address can also be read as a joke in which the poet names himself through the beloved's mouth. In the third couplet fire and water face each other: the beloved will not burn the lover in the fire of separation, but neither will she flow like water to everyone's feet; her favour is for the faithful lover alone. The "âb u gil" (water and clay) of the fifth couplet is a well-known phrase for the making of man; it says that the lover's being is kneaded with longing. The "serbâz" of the sixth couplet is a hero who risks his head.

In the last couplet the words "Kâmil idem" mean both "let me make perfect" and carry the poet's pen name; the perfecting of sincerity and the name Kâmil meet in a single word. Since Kâmil Efendi introduced the Divançe as a "letter of separation", a mesnevi built on letter and reply also suits the overall design of the work.

Bibliography

  • Avni Erdemir, "Amasyalı Abdurrahman Kâmil (Yetkin) Efendi'nin Şairliği ve Türkçe Şiirleri", Amasya İlahiyat Dergisi, 12, June 2019, pp. 178-179, 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. 50-51 (author's autograph).

Online sources