Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

Vaṣl ümīdi olmasa dil-dārdan
Dil elem çekmezdi āh u zārdan
Būy-ı zülf-i müşg-i çīni olmasa
Ḥażż alınmaz ṭabla-i ‘Aṭṭār'dan
Per açup bülbül fiġāna başlasa
Ẕevḳ ider gül savt-ı mūsīḳārdan
Ḫalvetüñde baş kesersin ḳan içüp
Ṣūfi ne nef‘üñ var istiġfārdan
Yüzüme ġam ḍarbın ur iy sīm-ten
Aṣṣı olmaz sikkesüz dinārdan
Noḳṭa ḳonmasun diseñ dil levḥine
Dā’ireñ bil çıḳmaġıl pergārdan
Rūy-ı yār olmayıcaḳ ḥaẓẓ eylemez
‘Adliyā dil bülbüli gülzārdan

In English

1. Were there no hope of union with the beloved, the heart would not suffer pain from sighing and moaning.

2. Were it not for the scent of (the beloved's) hair, like the musk of China, no pleasure would be taken from the perfumer's tray.

3. Should the nightingale spread its wings and begin to lament, the rose takes delight in the voice of that musician.

4. Sufi, in your seclusion you cut off heads and drink blood; what good is asking forgiveness (istiğfar) to you. In the reading of M1 and M2: cutting off heads in your seclusion while drinking blood. This couplet is absent from manuscript T.

5. O silver-bodied one, strike the stamp of grief upon my face; no profit comes from a gold coin (dinar) that bears no minting.

6. If you wish no dot (stain) to be placed on the tablet of the heart, know your bounds (your circle) and do not step outside the compass.

7. Adlî, without the beloved's face the nightingale of the heart takes no pleasure from the rose garden.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has seven couplets and is written in "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün", the short form of the remel metre. The redif (refrain word) is the suffix "-dan"; the rhyme rests on the sound "-âr": dil-dâr, zâr, Attâr, mûsîkâr, istiğfâr, dînâr, pergâr, gülzâr. The short metre gives the couplets the nimbleness of a proverb; the second lines of the fifth and sixth couplets in particular can be read on their own as sentences of judgement. It stands as no. 114 in Bayram's edition and is found in all five manuscripts (OR, T, M1, M2, İBB); the fourth couplet, however, is absent from T, and M1 and M2 read "keserken" (while cutting) for "kesersin" (you cut) in that couplet. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The main idea of the ghazal is that a thing takes its value from something else that gives it meaning. The heart suffers only because there is hope of union, the perfumer's scents are pleasing only because they recall the beloved's hair, and the rose garden delights the nightingale only when the beloved's face is there. The opening and closing couplets hold the two ends of this idea.

In the second couplet there is congruence of images (tenasüp) among "müşg-i Çîn" (musk of China), "bûy" (scent) and "attâr". "Attâr", in its dictionary sense, is a seller of perfumes and spices; the edition writes it with a capital letter. "Mûsîkâr" in the third couplet means, in its dictionary sense, a musician, and is also the name of an instrument; here it is read as an epithet given to the nightingale. The rose and the nightingale are the best-known pair of motifs in divan poetry: the nightingale stands for the lover, the rose for the beloved.

The fourth couplet is a harsh example of the criticism of the ascetic and the Sufi often found in divan poetry. The Sufi who repents and asks forgiveness in public "cuts off heads and drinks blood" in his seclusion; the couplet expresses hypocrisy through this grim image. The couplet is not found in manuscript T and stands in the text on the witness of four manuscripts.

The fifth couplet rests on a double entendre (tevriye). "Darb" means both a blow and the striking of a coin. The lover asks the beloved to strike a blow of grief upon his face and explains this by the worthlessness of an unminted gold coin: just as a dinar that bears no stamp does not pass as currency, a face that bears no stamp of grief does not count as a lover's face. The words "sîm-ten" (silver-bodied), "darb", "sikke" (coin die, stamp) and "dînâr" form a congruence of images drawn from the world of money.

The sixth couplet draws on the tools of calligraphy and geometry. Tablet, dot, circle and compass are words that call one another to mind. The phrase "dâ’ireñ bil" (know your circle) says the idiom "haddini bil" (know your place) through the image of the circle: whoever steps outside the circle drawn by the compass lets a stain fall on the tablet of the heart. On first reading the couplet is one of advice; in the context of love it may also be taken to mean that the lover must not overstep the bounds drawn by the beloved.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018, p. 152, poem no. 114 (manuscript variants in the footnote on the same page). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr