Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün

Dürlerle ki zeyn ide yüzüñ rūy-ı zemīni
Reşke bıraġur encüm ile çarḫ-ı berīni
Lü’lü’ dişiñüñ yādına iy lebleri mercān
Gözden bıraġursam ne ‘aceb dürr-i s̱emīni
Zülfüñ ḫamı būyına cilā-yı vaṭan itdi
Yek dōst u yek pōst diyü nāfe-i Çīn'i
Sögdükçe şifā-baḫş olur ḫātem-i la‘lüñ
Ḥırz-ı dil ü cān oldı meger naḳş-ı nigīni
And içse raḳībüñ ṣanemā dīnüm içün dir
Yoḳ yire niçe andlar içer gör o la‘īni
Dil ‘Adli ṣaçı bendine ṭolaşdı nigāruñ
Anı çekerek ṭut iñen uzatma ipini

In English

1. When your face adorns the face of the earth with pearls, it casts the lofty sphere (the sky), with its stars, into envy. (What the pearls are is not said; they may be understood as the beloved's teeth or the radiance of the face. The sky adorned with stars envies the earth adorned with pearls.)

2. O you whose lips are coral, if I shed precious pearls from my eyes in remembrance of your pearl teeth, is that any wonder? (The pearls shed from the eye are tears.)

3. The curl of your tress, for the sake of its scent, has parted the musk pod of China from its homeland, making it say "one friend, one skin". (The musk pod, overcome by the scent of the tress, has left its homeland and gone into exile like a dervish content with a single friend and a single sheepskin.)

4. Your ruby seal-ring (your lip) brings healing the more it curses; it seems the engraving of its stone has become an amulet for heart and soul. (The beloved's mouth, small and red, is likened to a seal-ring set with a ruby; even the curses that come from it are a cure.)

5. O idol of beauty, whenever your rival swears an oath he says "by my faith"; see how many oaths that accursed one swears for nothing.

6. O Adlî, the heart has become entangled in the bond of the beloved's hair; pull it in and hold it fast, do not let out its rope. (The hair is a rope and the heart a captive wound in it. The couplet can be read in two ways: the poet either tells himself to hold the heart fast, or asks the beloved not to slacken the rope.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has six couplets and is written in the hezec metre "mef‘ûlü mefâ‘îlü mefâ‘îlü fe‘ûlün". The rhyme rests on the sound "-în" and the redif (refrain word) on the accusative or possessive suffix (-i): zemîni, berîni, semîni, Çîn'i, nigîni, la‘îni; the Turkish word "ipini" in the last couplet matches this sound with a short vowel. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet in the form "Adli". It stands as no. 134 in Bayram's edition; according to the edition it belongs to the "Harfü'l-yâ" section of the divan. It is found in four of the five manuscripts (OR 32b, M1 42a, M2 33a, İBB 23a); it is absent from T. The fourth couplet is missing in OR and İBB, and the second line of the fifth couplet in OR. The main variants are these: M1 and M2 read "çarhuñ berîni" instead of "çarh-ı berîni" in the first couplet, İBB reads "şîrîn" instead of "mercân" in the second, OR and İBB read "boynına" instead of "bûyına" (for its scent) in the third, and OR reads "dili" instead of "dil" in the last. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first two couplets of the ghazal are built on images of pearls and jewels. In the opening couplet earth and sky face each other: the sky is adorned with stars, but when the beloved's face adorns the earth with pearls the sky falls into envy. The likeness between star and pearl combines with the contrast between earth and sky. The second couplet turns the same image towards the lover. The beloved's teeth are pearls and the lips coral; whenever the lover remembers those teeth he sheds "dürr-i semîn" (in its dictionary sense, precious pearls) from his eyes. There is a clear congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words lü’lü’, mercân and dürr. İBB's reading "şîrîn" (sweet) breaks this series of jewels; the edition's choice of "mercân" (coral) fits the order of images in the couplet.

The third couplet is a fine example of hüsn-i ta‘lîl (poetic aetiology, an imagined cause). "Nâfe-i Çîn", in its dictionary sense, is the musk pod of the deer of China (Khitai); musk is obtained from this skin pouch. The couplet ascribes musk's journey from China to distant lands to admiration for the scent of the tress. "Yek dost u yek post" is a Persian phrase; in its dictionary sense it means "one friend and one skin", and describes the dervish who has withdrawn from the world, content with one friend and the sheepskin he sits on. Here lies the wordplay: the musk pod really is a skin, that is, a post. Thus the musk of China becomes a dervish who has left his homeland for the sake of the tress.

In the fourth couplet the beloved's mouth is called "hâtem-i la‘l" (a ruby ring). The "nakş" (engraved inscription) of the ring's stone is likened to an amulet; the more the beloved curses, the more this inscription heals heart and soul. The contrast between cursing and healing rests on the familiar idea in divan poetry that even the beloved's bitter words taste sweet to the lover. In the fifth couplet, in a couplet that addresses the beloved as "sanem" (idol), the rival swears "by my faith". Swearing by religion before an idol gives the couplet a light note of mockery; the oaths he swears "for nothing" show that the rival's word cannot be trusted.

In the last couplet the hair is a rope and the heart a captive entangled in it. The words "bend" (bond), "tolaşmak" (to become entangled), "çekmek" (to pull), "ip" (rope) and "uzatmak" (to lengthen) form a congruence of images. The expression "ipini uzatmak", in its dictionary sense, means to slacken the rope; the poet does not ask for the heart to be freed from the hair, but for it to be held fast in that bond.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2018, p. 172, poem no. 134 (manuscript information in the footnote on the same page).

Online sources