Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘ilün fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün

‘Özini bend ideli zülfüñe dil-i ġamgīn
Bu ġuṣṣayile perīşān oldı ol miskīn
Gözüm yaşıyle işigini şöyle zeyn itdüm
Nite kim encüm ile zeyn olundı çarḫ-ı berīn
Ḳaşuñda ḳaṭre ‘araḳ kim düşüp durur ṣanasın
Ki ‘anberīne-i müşgīn üzre dürr-i s̱emīn
Esīr-i bend-i belā olmaduḳ göñül ḳalmaz
Egerçi zülfüñ aça cān sipāhı üzre kemīn
Ṭudaġuñ üstine zülfüñ egildügini gören
Didi ki vaḥy getürmiş Mesīḥ'e Rūḥü'l-emīn
Defīne-i dil-i ‘Adlī ki ‘ışḳa maḫzendür
Aransa naḳd-i ġamuñ bulınurdı anda hemīn

In English

1. Ever since the grieving heart bound itself to your hair, that poor wretch has been left perişan (scattered and distressed) by this sorrow.

2. I adorned your threshold with my tears in such a way that the highest sphere of heaven is adorned with stars in just that way.

3. Were you to see the drop of sweat that keeps falling on your eyebrow, you would think it a precious pearl upon a musk-scented ornament of ambergris.

4. Should your hair lay an ambush upon the army of souls, not a single heart would remain that has not fallen captive to the bonds of affliction. In the reading of OR and İBB: no heart would remain without falling captive.

5. Whoever saw your hair bending over your lip said, "Rûhülemîn (Gabriel) has brought revelation to the Messiah".

6. Were the buried treasure of Adlî's heart, which is a storehouse for love, to be searched, the ready coin of your grief would be found there at once. OR and M1 read "artsa" (should it increase) for "aransa" (were it searched).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has six couplets and is written in the müctes metre "mefâ‘ilün fe‘ilâtün mefâ‘ilün fe‘ilün". It has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme rests on the sound "-în": gamgîn, miskîn, berîn, semîn, kemîn, emîn, hemîn. It stands as no. 117 in Bayram's edition and is found in the manuscripts OR, M1, M2 and İBB; it is absent from T. The manuscript variants are mostly small differences of sound and suffix ("nite ki" for "nite kim" in couplet 2, "eger ki" for "egerçi" in couplet 4, "görüp" for "gören" in couplet 5). To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The axis of the ghazal is the beloved's hair; four of the six couplets concern the hair directly. In the opening couplet the heart has bound itself to the hair and has therefore become "perişan". "Perîşân", in its dictionary sense, means both scattered and distressed, thrown into disorder; the scattering of a heart bound to scattered hair brings these two meanings together. There is congruence of images (tenasüp) between "bend" (bond) and "zülf" (hair). "Miskîn", in its dictionary sense, means poor, wretched.

The second and third couplets are built on glittering drops. The lover has adorned the beloved's threshold with his tears; this is likened to the sky adorned with stars. There is congruence of images between "encüm" (stars) and "çarh-ı berîn" (the highest sphere). In the third couplet the drop of sweat on the beloved's eyebrow is likened to a pearl on a black, scented ornament of ambergris. "‘Anberîne", in its dictionary sense, is a scent ball or ornament made of ambergris; the dark colour of the eyebrow corresponds to the ambergris, the drop of sweat to the pearl.

The fourth couplet draws on the language of war. The hair lays an ambush, the souls are an army, the hearts fall captive. There is congruence of images among the words "sipâh" (soldiery), "kemîn" (ambush), "esîr" (captive) and "bend" (bond). The coils of the hair are imagined as a place of ambush and as the bond that takes prisoners.

The fifth couplet is the most striking of the ghazal and rests on a religious allusion (telmih). In divan poetry the beloved's lip is likened to Jesus (the Messiah) because of his breath that raises the dead. "Rûhü'l-emîn", in its dictionary sense, is "the trustworthy spirit" and is used as an epithet of Gabriel. The birth of Jesus, too, is recalled together with Gabriel's breathing. The hair bending over the lip is likened to Gabriel descending to bring revelation to Jesus; the lip becomes Jesus, the hair Gabriel. This simile turns the nearness of the hair to the lip into a scene of sacred communication.

The closing couplet ends in the language of treasure. Adlî's heart is the "mahzen", that is, the storehouse, of love, a buried "defîne" (treasure); the only thing to be found in it, were it searched, is the "nakd" of the beloved's grief. There is congruence of images among "defîne", "mahzen" and "nakd" (ready money). Grief is shown here as the lover's most precious possession.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018, p. 155, poem no. 117 (manuscript variants in the footnote on the same page). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Mustafa İsmet Uzun, "Îsâ (Türk Edebiyatı)", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 22, Istanbul 2000, pp. 473-475, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/isa.

Online sources