Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Gice uyḫuda göñül cennetde gördi yirini
Kūy-ı dil-berde iḳāmetdür didi ta‘bīrini
Dest-i Ḳudret mebde-i fıṭratda beñzer eylemiş
Āb u ḫāk-i ‘ışḳ ile ‘āşıḳlaruñ taḫmīrini
Sāḳi-i devrān beni bir cām ile mest itdi kim
‘Işḳ şer‘i men‘ ḳılmış muḥtesib ta‘zīrini
Dil-bere cevr ü cefā ḳılmaḳ s̱evābın dir imiş
‘Āşıḳına vay raḳībüñ mürşidini pīrini
‘Işḳ ḫayli şöyle ġālib oldı dil milkine kim
‘Adliyā erkān-ı devlet eylesün tedbīrini

In English

1. In its sleep at night the heart saw its own place in paradise; it interpreted this dream as "dwelling in the beloved's street". (The paradise of the dream is the beloved's street.)

2. It seems that the Hand of Power, at the beginning of creation, kneaded the dough of lovers with the water and earth of love.

3. The cupbearer of time made me drunk with such a cup that the law of love has forbidden the muhtesib's punishment. (The muhtesib is the official who punishes wine drinkers; the law of love does not grant him this authority.)

4. They say the beloved is told that tormenting and oppressing his lover is a pious deed; woe to the rival's spiritual guide, to his master. (The couplet does not say plainly who speaks these words; the curse implies that this teaching comes from the rival's sheikh.)

5. O Adlî, the horsemen of love have so overcome the realm of the heart that the pillars of state had better devise a remedy for it now. ("Hayl", in its dictionary sense, means a body of horsemen; "hayli" also means "much, a great deal".)

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 "-îr" and the redif (refrain word) on the suffix "-ini": yirini, ta‘bîrini, tahmîrini, ta‘zîrini, pîrini, tedbîrini. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet in the vocative "Adliyâ". It stands as no. 137 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 33b, T 42b, M1 43a, M2 33b-34a, İBB 23b). The variants occur only in the fourth couplet: OR reads "dil-ber ü" instead of "dil-bere", and T reads "sevâbdur" instead of "sevâbın". To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Each couplet of the ghazal applies a concept from another field to love: the interpretation of dreams, creation, the sacred law and public order (hisbe), the dervish order, the government of the state. In the opening couplet the heart sees its place in paradise in a dream and interprets the dream itself. "Ta‘bîr", in its dictionary sense, is the interpretation of a dream; the paradise seen in the dream means, in waking life, dwelling in the beloved's street. The identification of paradise with the beloved's quarter is a familiar comparison in divan poetry.

The second couplet rests on the idea of man's creation from water and earth. "Dest-i Kudret" (the Hand of Power) expresses God's creative power, and "mebde-i fıtrat" is, in its dictionary sense, the beginning of creation. "Tahmîr", in its dictionary sense, means to knead into dough, to leaven. The couplet says that the dough of lovers contains not ordinary water and earth but the water and earth of love; being a lover is presented not as a state acquired later but as a temperament given at creation. The word "beñzer" (it seems) presents this claim as a conjecture.

In the third couplet the words "şer‘" (sacred law), "men‘" (prohibition), "muhtesib" and "ta‘zîr" are taken from the world of law and form a congruence of images (tenasüp). The muhtesib, in its dictionary sense, is the official who supervises the market and public morals, and ta‘zîr is a punishment left to the judge's discretion. In divan poetry the muhtesib is often mentioned as the man who raids wine gatherings and punishes drunkards. The couplet reverses this order: the cup that has made the lover drunk was offered by "the cupbearer of time", and the law of love has forbidden the muhtesib's punishment. Two laws, two jurisdictions, stand face to face.

In the fourth couplet the language of the dervish orders comes to the fore. The words "sevap" (pious deed), "mürşid" (spiritual guide) and "pîr" (master) complement one another. The beloved has been taught that tormenting his lover is a pious deed; the poet looks for the source of this in the rival's spiritual guide and curses him. There is a clear contrast between pious deed and torment.

The last couplet is the most striking in the ghazal. There is a tevriye (double entendre) in the expression "ışk hayli": on the one hand "hayli" means "very much, a great deal", on the other, recalling the word "hayl" (a body of horsemen), it reads as "the horsemen of love". When this second sense combines with "gâlib olmak" (to overcome) and "dil milki" (the realm of the heart), the heart appears like a country defeated by an army. The poet leaves the remedy to the "erkân-ı devlet", that is, the pillars of the state. Since the man who says this was the ruler at the head of his own state, the language of war and government in the couplet carries a joking tone that plays on the poet's own rank.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2018, p. 175, poem no. 137 (manuscript information in the footnote on the same page).

Online sources