Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Eger dest-i ġamuñ elinden alaydum girībānı
Felek evcine ilterdüm feraḥdan dest ü dāmānı
Ṣaçı ṭarrārlar mekrine bir dil olmasun meftūn
Gözi kāfirlere düşürme yā Rab bir Müselmān'ı
Baña dīvāne oldı diyü ehl-i ‘aḳl ider ṭa‘ne
Ne mühlik vādidür bilmez meger ‘ışḳuñ beyābānı
Ṣaçuñ bendinde olanlar küşāde-ḫāṭır olmışdur
İçenler bāde-i la‘lüñ sürerler ḫōş çü devrānı
Cihān milkine ser-tā-ser şeh olmaḳ isteseñ ‘Adlī
Olıgör cān ile ol şāh-ı ḥüsnüñ bende-fermānı

In English

1. If I could free my collar from the hand of grief, I would raise my hand and skirt for joy to the summit of the heavens. (Grief is imagined as someone who holds the lover by the collar; whoever escapes it spreads hand and skirt in joy.)

2. Let no heart be enthralled by the wiles of those whose hair is a cutpurse; O Lord, let no Muslim fall into the hands of those whose eye is an infidel. (The beloveds' hair is a cutpurse and their eye an infidel, that is, merciless.)

3. The people of reason reproach me, saying "he has gone mad"; it seems they do not know what a deadly valley the desert of love is.

4. Those in the bonds of your tress have become glad of heart; those who drink the wine of your ruby (lip) live a pleasant life. (There is a contrast between the bond of the hair and the openness of the heart; whoever is bound to the beloved finds ease in captivity.)

5. Adlî, if you wish to be king over the realm of the world from end to end, become with all your soul the obedient servant of that king of beauty.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has five 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 accusative suffix (-ı): girîbânı, dâmânı, Müselmân'ı, beyâbânı, devrânı, fermânı. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet. It stands as no. 133 in Bayram's edition; according to the edition it belongs to the "Harfü'l-yâ" section of the divan, that is, among the ghazals whose last letter in Arabic script is yâ. It is found in all five manuscripts (OR 32b, T 41b, M1 42a, M2 33a, İBB 22b), but the opening couplet is missing in M1 and M2. The manuscript variants are limited: T reads "iletürdüm" instead of "ilterdüm" in the first couplet and "milki ser-â-ser" instead of "milkine ser-tâ-ser" in the last; İBB reads "tarrârları mekrine bu dil olmagın" in the second couplet and "evidür" instead of "vâdîdür" in the third; M1 and M2 read "bu" instead of "çü" in the fourth couplet. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is built on the words hand, collar and skirt. The phrase "dest-i gam" (the hand of grief) and the word "elinden" (from the hand) that follows it say the same thing twice, in Persian and in Turkish. Grief is someone who holds the lover by the collar; if his collar is freed, the lover will raise his hand and skirt in joy to the summit of the heavens. There is congruence of images (tenasüp) among dest (hand), girîbân (collar) and dâmân (skirt), and an antithesis (tezat) between grief and joy. "Evc", in its dictionary sense, means the highest point of a heavenly body, the summit.

The second couplet is cast as a prayer. The beloveds' hair is a "tarrâr" (cutpurse) and their eye an "infidel" (kâfir). "Kâfir" is often used in divan poetry for the merciless beloved; here, set in antithesis to the word "Müselmân" (Muslim), it gives the couplet a light note of jest. Elements of beauty such as hair and eye are described as persons who deceive and take captive. In the third couplet reason and love face each other. The people of reason reproach the lover as mad, whereas love is a desert and the valleys of that desert are deadly. The link among the words dîvâne (madman), vâdî (valley) and beyâbân (desert) rests on the image, in divan poetry, of the mad lover driven into the deserts by love.

In the fourth couplet there is an antithesis between "bend" (bond) and "küşâde" (open). Those held captive in the bond of the hair have become glad of heart. The phrase "bâde-i la‘l", in its dictionary sense, means ruby wine; the lip, with its redness, resembles both ruby and wine. Those who drink this wine lead a pleasant life (devrân). The idiom "devrân sürmek" describes passing the time pleasantly; the word "devr" also calls to mind the passing of the cup from hand to hand in gatherings, though this link is not stated openly in the couplet.

The last couplet plainly carries the irony often seen in Adlî's poems. Whoever wishes to be king over the realm of the world from end to end must become a servant who bows to the commands of "the king of beauty". The antithesis among the words şeh (king), şâh-ı hüsn (king of beauty) and bende-fermân (servant bound to command) carries the couplet. The man who gave himself this counsel was indeed the ruler of a wide realm; in tying dominion over the world to servitude in love, the couplet plays with the poet's own office. The same idea is voiced in the last couplet of ghazal no. 130 of the divan, with the words "to be king of the seven climes".

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2018, p. 171, poem no. 133 (manuscript information in the footnote on the same page).

Online sources