Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Nev-bahār itdi müzeyyen yine rūy-ı ‘ālemi
Bezm-i gülşende bulup bir niçe yār u hem-demi
Der-miyān it varuñı nergis gibi bāġ içre kim
Dökilüp ṣaçılmaġ ögretdi şükūfe dirhemi
Ṣāfi mey nūş eyle dehrüñ ḳıl firībinden ḥaẕer
‘Ālem aḥvālüñ mükedder itmedin ḳıl ‘ālemi
Tāze eyleñ bāde ābıyla dil-i pejmürdei
Nice virdi āb-rū ezhāre görüñ şebnemi
Olubañ ġamgīn benefşe gibi burmazdum boyın
‘Adliyā boynuma bend itsem o sünbül perçemi

In English

1. Spring, finding a few friends and boon companions in the gathering of the rose garden, has adorned the face of the world once again.

2. In the garden, like the narcissus, put all you have in the middle; for the blossoms have taught their dirhams (their falling petals) to spill and scatter. (The flowers, generously shedding petals that resemble silver coins, teach man too not to hold back what he has. The couplet can also be read as "the blossom taught the dirham to spill and scatter"; the meaning does not change.)

3. Drink pure wine and beware the deceit of time; make merry before the ways of the world cloud your spirit.

4. Refresh the distraught heart with the water of wine; look how much lustre and honour (âb-rû) the dew has given the flowers.

5. O Adlî, had I been able to bind that hyacinth forelock around my neck, I would not have grown sorrowful and bowed my neck like the violet. (The drooping posture of the violet is likened to a grieving person with bowed neck; the beloved's fragrant, curling hair is likened to the hyacinth.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has five couplets and is written in the remel metre "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The rhyme rests on the sound "-em" and the redif (refrain word) on the accusative suffix (-i): âlemi, hem-demi, dirhemi, âlemi, şebnemi, perçemi. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet in the vocative "Adliyâ". It stands as no. 135 in Bayram's edition; according to the edition it belongs to the "Harfü'l-yâ" section of the divan. It is found in all five manuscripts (OR 33a, T 41b-42a, M1 42b, M2 33a-33b, İBB 23a). The variants are few: T reads "gülşen it" instead of "gülşende" in the first couplet; T, M1 and M2 read "yâr-ı hem-demi" instead of "yâr u hem-demi" and, in the fourth couplet, "pejmürdeyi" instead of "pejmürdei"; T has "gör bu" instead of "görüñ" in the same couplet. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal treats the theme of spring and işret (the wine gathering). In the opening couplet spring is like a person who adorns the face of the world and has found his friends at a gathering held in the rose garden. This personification spreads through the whole ghazal: the flowers teach generosity, the dew wins honour for the flowers, the violet bows its neck. Garden and gathering merge; wine, flower and friend are parts of the same scene.

In the second couplet the narcissus is shown as someone who puts what he has in the middle. "Der-miyân", in its dictionary sense, means "in the middle"; by a common comparison the yellow centre of the narcissus is likened to gold, and the couplet implies that the narcissus keeps this "wealth" of its own in plain view. "Şükûfe dirhemi", in its dictionary sense, is the dirham of the blossom; the white petals falling from the trees are likened to silver coins. With flowers that shed petals as if scattering money, spring teaches man generosity.

The third couplet is the centre of gravity of the ghazal. There is a contrast between "sâfî" (pure) and "mükedder" (turbid, sorrowful); the wine should be clear, and pleasure should be taken before the heart grows clouded. The second line of the couplet begins and ends with the word "âlem": the first in its dictionary sense means the world, the second, in the idiom "âlem kılmak", means merrymaking. The reuse here, in another sense, of the rhyme word "âlemi" from the opening couplet is an example of cinas (pun on homonyms). The advice recalling that the world deceives is joined to a call to make the most of the moment in the face of life's brevity.

In the fourth couplet words connected with water come together: "âb" (water), "âb-rû" (in its dictionary sense, the water of the face, that is, honour and lustre), "şebnem" (dew) and "tâze" (fresh). Just as the dew gives honour to the flowers, the water of wine will give freshness to the weary heart. In the last couplet the violet and the hyacinth face each other. The violet with its bowed neck stands for the grieving lover, the fragrant hyacinth for the beloved's forelock. The correspondence between "boyın burmak" (to bow the neck) and "boynuma bend itmek" (to bind around my neck) sets sorrow and union side by side in the couplet.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2018, p. 173, poem no. 135 (manuscript information in the footnote on the same page).

Online sources