Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün

Bugün ben da‘vi-i ‘ışḳ ile geldüm çün bu meydāne
N'ola ṭūb eyler isem başumı ol zülf-i çevgāne
Hevā-yı āteş-i ḫaddüñ dilinde od ḳodı nāruñ
Şerār-ı berḳ-i āhum yanmaġ ögretdi gül-efşāne
Başuñda cür‘a-dānuñ revzen-i hicrüñde mey ẓarfı
Nidersin ṭa‘n idüp bi’llāh ṣūfī mest u ḥayrāne
Göñül cem‘ itmedüñ sevdā-yı zülfine virelden dil
Perīşānlıġumuz ḫoş geldi çünkim ol perī-şāne
Birisi ġarḳ-ı āb oldı birisi tīşe-çāk itdi
Gözümden infi‘āl ol deñlü irdi baḥr ile kāne
Niçe cān cübbesini çāk idüpdür desti eflâküñ
Temessük eyleme ‘Adlī girībān ile dāmāne
Bugün ẓulm ehlini dīvānuña da‘vet idüp ‘adl it
Taẓallum eyleyü varsañ gerek bir ‘āli dīvāne

In English

1. Since today I have come to this field with the claim of love, what wonder if I make my head a ball for that tress curved like a polo stick? (The çevgân, in its dictionary sense, is the stick with a bent end used in a ball game played on horseback; the lover's head becomes the ball rolling before the beloved's curling hair.)

2. Longing for the fire of your cheek has set fire in the heart of the pomegranate; the spark from the lightning of my sigh has taught the rose-scatterer to burn. (The word "nâr", in its dictionary sense, means both fire and pomegranate; the redness of the pomegranate is explained by this fire that has fallen into its heart.)

3. With a cup for the dregs on your head and a wine vessel in the window of your separation, by God, O Sufi, what do you gain by reproaching the drunk and bewildered one? (The couplet is obscure. On one reading, the reproaching Sufi is himself not far from wine, so his reproach of the drunkard is out of place. "Cür‘adan", in its dictionary sense, is the vessel into which the last sips left at the bottom of the cup are poured.)

4. O heart, ever since you gave yourself to the passion for (the beloved's) tress you have not collected yourself, for our dishevelment pleased that fairy-faced king. (The heart that loves the dishevelled hair stays dishevelled too, and this state pleases the beloved.)

5. Such shame reached the sea and the mine from my eye (from the tears it sheds) that one sank into the water and drowned, and the other split itself open with the pickaxe. (The sea was ashamed of the abundance of the tears, the mine of the jewel-like colour of the bloody tears.)

6. The hand of the heavens has torn the robe of many a soul; Adlî, do not cling to collar and skirt. (The couplet can be read in two ways: do not seize the collar and skirt of the heavens and expect help from them; or, since the heavens will tear them anyway, do not attach yourself to your own collar and skirt, that is, to your existence in this world.)

7. Today summon the people of oppression to your council and rule with justice; for (one day) you too must go, complaining of injustice, to a lofty council. (The lofty council can be understood as the day of reckoning in the presence of God.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has seven couplets and is written in the hezec metre "mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün". The rhyme rests on the sound "-ân" and the redif (refrain word) on the dative suffix (-a/-e): meydâne, çevgâne, gül-efşâne, hayrâne, perî-şâne, kâne, dâmâne, dîvâne. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the sixth couplet, and the seventh is a closing couplet of counsel. It stands as no. 129 in Bayram's edition. It is found in OR (29b), T (39a) and İBB (20b), and is absent from M1 and M2. Manuscript T reads differently in several places: in the fifth couplet "hâk oldı" instead of "çâk itdi" and "intkâl" instead of "infi‘âl", in the last couplet "bu kez" instead of "bugün" and "eylegör" instead of "eyleyü". In the sixth couplet İBB reads "tahammül" (enduring) instead of "temessük" (clinging). To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet begins with a scene from a game. There is congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words meydân (field), çevgân (polo stick), tûb (ball) and head; in the game of çevgân horsemen strike the ball with bent-ended sticks. The curling hair is likened to the polo stick and the lover's head to the ball. The word "da‘vâ", in its dictionary sense, means both a claim and a lawsuit brought before a court; the lover who has come out onto the field with the claim of love has resolved to stake his head. This word also forms a distant link with the words council and justice in the last couplet.

In the second couplet there is a double entendre (tevriye) in the word "nâr". The word, in its dictionary sense, means fire in Arabic and pomegranate in Persian; "âteş" and "od" (both fire) in the first line support the meaning fire, while gül-efşân (rose-scatterer) supports the sense of garden and fruit. The inside of the pomegranate is red; the poet explains this by the fire that longing for the beloved's cheek has dropped into the pomegranate's heart. This is a hüsn-i ta‘lîl (poetic aetiology, an imagined cause). The third couplet is the most obscure place in the ghazal. The words cür‘adan, revzen (window) and mey zarfı (wine vessel) set up the surroundings of the tavern; the Sufi's reproach of the drunkard is one of the familiar themes of divan poetry. Exactly whose situation the first line describes is not clear.

In the fourth couplet there is a pun (cinas) between "perîşân" (dishevelled, distraught) and "perî-şâne" (to the fairy-faced king). The hair is dishevelled, and the lover who gives his heart to it becomes dishevelled too; the antithesis (tezat) between "cem‘ itmek" (to collect) and dishevelment brings this condition forward. The fifth couplet is an example of leff ü neşr (enumeration and matching). In the second line the sea and the mine are named in order; "one drowned" in the first line corresponds to the sea, "one was split with the pickaxe" to the mine. The abundance of the tears shamed the sea, and the ruby-like redness of the bloody tears shamed the mine. "Tîşe", in its dictionary sense, means pickaxe, chisel.

The last two couplets move away from the theme of love. In the sixth couplet the heavens appear as a hand that has torn the garments of many souls, and Adlî counsels himself not to cling to anything. In the seventh couplet the counsel turns to a ruler. "To summon the people of oppression to the council" and "to do justice" mean, in their dictionary sense, to call the oppressors to account and to rule with justice; the reason is that everyone will one day stand before a loftier council. The link of sound and meaning between the pen name "Adlî" and "‘adl it" (rule with justice) is plain. Since holding council and hearing complaints was the sultan's task, the counsel in this couplet touches directly on the office of the man who wrote the poem. In this couplet the poet addresses himself directly as a ruler.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2018, p. 167, poem no. 129 (manuscript information in the footnote on the same page).

Online sources