Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Cem‘ olalum bir çemende ‘işrete āġāz içün
Çalduralum naḳdümüz varını sūz u sāz içün
Zülfi dāmına muḳayyed olasın fikr eylemez
Murġ-ı cān pervāz ider ol gözleri şehbāz içün
Kendü añmaz ḫalvetinde başlar kesdügini
Tanz ider ṣūfī bize ol gözleri ṭannāz içün
El degirmez ‘ār eyler beñzer ol şeh nāz ider
Ḫar raḳībüñ lehçe-i murdārına şehnāz içün
Cān u dil ṣaydını fitrākine aṣmaz gerçi kim
Cānumuz ḳılca ḳalupdur ol kemend-endāz içün
‘Adliyā ‘ār eyleme cānān yolunda ölmege
Cān fedā ḳılmadı mı Maḥmūd'ı gör Ayaz içün

In English

1. Let us gather in a meadow to begin a drinking party; let us spend all we have on plaintive melody and music (let us have the musicians play away all our ready cash).

2. The bird of the soul never thinks that it will be bound in the trap of his hair; it beats its wings and flies towards those falcon eyes.

3. The Sufi does not mention the heads he cut off in his own seclusion, yet he reproaches us because of those mocking eyes. The couplet can be read in two ways: the one who cuts off heads in seclusion may be the Sufi himself, or the subject of the sentence may be the beloved's eyes; in that case the meaning is "those eyes do not mention the heads they cut off where no one sees, while the Sufi reproaches us because of those mocking eyes".

4. That shah, as if ashamed and coy, will not take up the instrument to play Şehnaz (a melody in that musical mode) for the filthy mouth of the donkey-like rival. The meaning of the couplet is not certain; this is a reading based on the play of sound between "şeh nâz" (the shah is coy) and "şehnâz".

5. Though that lasso-throwing beauty does not hang the prey of soul and heart on his saddle strap, our soul has been reduced to a hair's breadth for him (has worn thin and wasted away).

6. Adlî, do not be ashamed to die on the beloved's path; see, did not Mahmud sacrifice his life for Ayaz?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has six couplets and is written in the remel metre "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "içün" (for); the rhyme rests on the sound "-âz": âgâz, sâz, şehbâz, tannâz, şehnâz, endâz, Ayâz. The ghazal is a short love poem whose opening couplet rhymes within itself and whose other couplets rhyme with it in their second lines. It stands as no. 108 in Bayram's edition and is found in all five manuscripts (OR, T, M1, M2, İBB), but the last couplet carrying the pen name (mahlas) is missing in OR and İBB; in these two manuscripts the ghazal has five couplets and no pen name. The other variants are these: in couplet 1, M1, M2 and İBB read "ola kim" for "olalum"; in couplet 3, T, M1 and M2 read "dil-ber-i" for "gözleri"; in couplet 4, T reads "şehbâz" for "şeh nâz". To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens with an invitation to a gathering. To gather in a spring meadow, begin a drinking party and give whatever one has to music and melody belongs to the libertine (rind) idiom of classical poetry. "Sûz u sâz", in its dictionary sense, means plaintive melody and instrument; since the verb "çaldırmak" can mean both to have an instrument played and to let one's property slip away, a play on words can be sensed in the line. "Nakd", in its dictionary sense, means ready cash.

The second couplet moves to a hunting scene. The soul is a bird, the beloved's hair is a trap, and his eyes are a "şehbâz", in its dictionary sense the falcon reckoned the finest of hunting birds. The bird flying towards its own hunter adds a subtle contrast to the couplet: the soul that gives no thought to the trap goes of its own accord to the one who will catch it. There is congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words "dâm" (trap), "murg" (bird), "pervâz" (flight) and "şehbâz". The fifth couplet continues the same cluster: the beloved is a "kemend-endâz", a thrower of the lasso; the words "said" (prey) and "fitrâk" (in its dictionary sense, the strap behind the saddle used to tie game) complete the scene. The soul being reduced to "a hair's breadth" calls to mind both wasting away and the likeness between the lasso and the hair.

The third couplet carries the familiar criticism that classical poetry directs at the Sufi. The Sufi reproaches the lovers because of the beloved's eyes; yet the one who cuts off heads in seclusion is either the Sufi himself or, according to the other reading, those eyes that kill lovers where no one sees. There is a likeness of sound close to a pun (cinas) between "tanz" (mockery, reproach) and "tannâz" (in its dictionary sense, mocking, coquettish). The fourth couplet rests on a similar play of sound: there is a pun between "şeh nâz ider" (the shah is coy) and the rhyme word "şehnâz". Şehnaz, in its dictionary sense, is the name of a musical mode (makam); the beloved does not stoop to play in this mode for the rival's coarse mouth. The musical words tie this couplet to the "sâz" of the opening couplet.

The closing couplet rests on an allusion (telmih). The devotion between Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna and his slave Ayaz is often cited in classical poetry as an example of love and loyalty. Adlî addresses himself, asking that he not be ashamed to die on the beloved's path, and gives as his reason a sultan's sacrificing his life for his slave. When one considers that the poet was a padishah, the couplet carries, with a clear example, the irony frequent in Adlî's poems: the sultan chooses as his model another sultan who gives his life for his servant.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018, p. 146, poem no. 108 (manuscript variants in the footnote on the same page). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr