Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ḳande varam sāye-i serv-i bülendüm var iken
Kime ḳul olam senüñ gibi efendüm var iken
Dil ṭolaşmaz zülfi sevdāsına ġayrı dil-berüñ
Kākül-i cānān gibi miskīn kemendüm var iken
Nice serbāz olmayam ‘ışḳı yolında dil-berüñ
Bu delü göñlüm gibi çābük-levendüm var iken
Eylemiş dil-ber ṣalā vaṣlına cānlar dir meger
İy göñül ben kime diyem bunı kendüm var iken
Dimedüñ mi itmezem ben luṭfdur māni‘ dirīġ
‘Adli-i bī-çāre gibi derdmendüm var iken

In English

1. Where should I go while I have the shade of my tall cypress (my tall beloved); whose slave should I become while I have a master like you.

2. While I have a lasso like the beloved's forelock, my heart does not get entangled in passion for the hair of another beauty.

3. While I have a nimble young gallant like this mad heart of mine, how could I not be a serbaz (one who stakes his head) on the path of the beloved's love.

4. So, they say, the beloved has called souls (those who give their lives) to union with him. O heart, while I myself am here, to whom should I tell this (what need is there to pass the news on; I will answer the call myself).

5. The meaning of the line is obscure. On a close reading: did you not say "I will not (grant favour)"; alas, while you have a sufferer like poor Adlî, what stands in the way of favour. The couplet can be read in two ways: the words "lutfdur mâni‘" can also be understood as "it is favour that prevents"; in that case the beloved would be saying that his own kindness keeps him from cruelty.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The attribution of this ghazal is seriously disputed. Its opening couplet is given in four biographical anthologies of poets (tezkire) to Ahdî of Edirne, a chancery secretary of the reign of Bayezid II. Latîfî says that Ahdî served as a secretary of decrees in the imperial council in Sultan Bayezid's reign and that, although fully capable of poetry, he wrote little because of the press of his duties, and he places this poem among his works with the words "anuñ eşʿârındandur" (it is among his poems). Beyânî calls the opening couplet Ahdî's "matla‘-ı pür-iştihâr", that is, his very famous opening couplet; Kınalızâde says "ana isnâd olınur" (it is attributed to him), and Gelibolulu Âlî also records in the Künhü'l-ahbâr "bu matla‘ anuñdur" (this opening couplet is his). The ghazal itself, however, is found in Bayram's edition in only one of the five manuscripts, M2, that is, the copy made by Ali Emîrî; it is absent from OR, T, M1 and İBB.

The text Latîfî gives in his entry on Ahdî adds a further detail to this dispute. After the opening couplet Latîfî quotes two more couplets. One of them, "Eylemiş dilber ṣıla yolında cânlar virene / Ben bu râzı kime diyem yine kendüm vâr iken", is a form of the fourth couplet of this ghazal differing in some words. The other couplet ("Bir nice ġam ʿaskerine germ olup at ṣalmayam / Câm-ı ḥamrâ gibi bir gülgûn semendüm vâr iken") does not appear in the text in M2. The closing couplet of the ghazal in M2, on the other hand, carries the pen name (mahlas) "‘Adlî". The sources do not explain this difference; since there is no manuscript witness other than M2, it cannot be said with certainty to whom the ghazal belongs.

The ghazal (gazel) has five couplets and is written in the remel metre "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is the phrase "-üm var iken" (while I have my ...); the rhyme rests on the sound "-end": bülend, efend, kemend, levend, kend, derdmend. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

All the couplets of the ghazal rest on the same structure: "what need have I of anything else while I have this". The redif "var iken" (while I have) repeats this idea in every couplet and counts one by one the things the lover possesses: the shade of the cypress-statured beloved, the lasso of the hair, the mad heart, himself, and the suffering Adlî.

In the opening couplet the beloved is called both "serv-i bülend" (tall cypress) and "efendi" (master); the lover is his slave. The shade of the cypress carries the sense of a shelter in which to take refuge; the question "kande varam" (where should I go) says that there is no place outside this shelter. If this ghazal belongs to Bayezid II, the fact that the man who calls the beloved "my master" and asks whose slave else he should become is a sultan produces a striking irony; but since the attribution is disputed, this reading must be made with caution.

In the second couplet the hair and the forelock correspond to a lasso that catches the lover. "Miskîn", in its dictionary sense, means poor, wretched. The lover, who himself has a lasso, does not get entangled in the hair of another beauty; there is congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words "zülf" (hair), "kâkül" (forelock), "kemend" (lasso) and "tolaşmak" (to get entangled). In the third couplet the heart is a "çâbük-levend": "levend", in its dictionary sense, means a brave young man, a gallant, and "serbâz" one who stakes his head, a daring man. The mad heart faces, on the lover's behalf, the dangers to be braved on the path of love.

In the fourth couplet "salâ", in its dictionary sense, is a general summons, an invitation to all. The beloved has called souls to union with him; the lover sees no need to pass this news on to anyone, because the one who will answer the call is himself. In Latîfî's version the line reads "ṣıla yolında cânlar virene" (to whoever gives his life on the path of union), and the couplet is built as "to whom should I tell this secret"; the meaning goes in the same direction. The meaning of the closing couplet, on the other hand, cannot be fully resolved; since the ghazal rests on a single manuscript, there is no other reading to compare it with.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018, p. 156, poem no. 118 (manuscript information in the footnote on the same page). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Latîfî, Tezkiretü'ş-Şuarâ ve Tabsıratü'n-Nuzamâ, ed. Rıdvan Canım, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), p. 385 (entry on Ahdî). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Beyânî, Tezkiretü'ş-Şu'arâ, ed. Aysun Sungurhan, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2017 (e-book), p. 136, entry on Ahdî. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi, Tezkiretü'ş-Şu'arâ, ed. Aysun Sungurhan, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2017 (e-book), p. 622, entry on Ahdî. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Gelibolulu Mustafa Âlî, Künhü'l-ahbâr'ın Tezkire Kısmı, ed. Mustafa İsen, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2017 (e-book), entry on Ahdî. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr