Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün mefā‘ilün fe‘ilün

Sāḳiyā sāġar-ı hilāl ḳanı
Ṣun berū dāfi‘-i melāl ḳanı
Bāġbānā bu bāġ-ı ‘ālemde
Mīvesi mihr bir nihāl ḳanı
Rūşen itmege cān u dil milkin
Ḳanı ol mihr-i bī-zevāl ḳanı
Furḳati içre bīm-i cān var iken
Vaṣla irmege iḥtimāl ḳanı
Gitdi ‘ışḳ ile iḫtiyār elden
Daḫı ṣabr itmege mecāl ḳanı
Deheni fikr olunsa söz yoḳdur
Bili vaṣfında ḳīl ü ḳāl ḳanı
Eglenürdük ḫayāl ile her dem
‘Adliyā ‘ālem-i ḫayāl ḳanı

In English

1. O cupbearer, where is the crescent-shaped goblet? Hand it here; where is the dispeller of sorrow (wine)?

2. O gardener, in this garden of the world, where is a sapling whose fruit is love (or the sun)? ("Mihr" means both love and the sun.)

3. To illumine the realm of soul and heart, where is that never-setting sun, where?

4. While in separation from him there is fear for one's life, where is the chance of attaining union?

5. Through love, the will has slipped from my hand; where is any strength left to be patient?

6. If one thinks of his mouth, there is no word to say; where is the idle talk in describing his waist? (The beloved's mouth is so small that it counts as non-existent, so nothing can be said of it; his waist is likewise so slender that no words can be found to describe it.)

7. We used to while away every moment with imagination; O Adlî, where is that world of imagination?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has seven couplets and is written in the hafif metre "fe‘ilâtün mefâ‘ilün fe‘ilün". It is a short metre; the lines do not exceed five or six words. The redif (refrain word) is "kanı" (where is), and the rhyme rests on the sound "-âl": hilâl, melâl, nihâl, zevâl, ihtimâl, mecâl, kāl, hayâl. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet in the vocative "Adliyâ". It stands as no. 138 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-33b, T 42b-43a, M1 43a-43b, M2 34a, İBB 23a-23b), but the sixth couplet is absent from OR and İBB. T reads "furkat" instead of "furkati" and "bu ten ü" instead of "bîm-i" in the fourth couplet; T, M1 and M2 read "gamda" (in grief) instead of "her dem" (every moment) in the last couplet, while in OR "her dem" is missing. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Every couplet of the ghazal ends as a question with the redif "kanı". Each couplet seeks something the lover has lost or cannot find: the goblet, the sapling bearing the fruit of love, the never-setting sun, the chance of union, the strength to endure, the world of imagination. The redif carries this sense of absence from couplet to couplet, and the short metre repeats the questions at close intervals.

The goblet asked of the cupbearer in the opening couplet is the "sâgar-ı hilâl", that is, the crescent-shaped goblet. The thin curved rim of the cup is likened to the new moon. Wine is called "dâfi‘-i melâl" (the dispeller of sorrow). In the second couplet the address turns to the gardener; with the first two couplets directed to the cupbearer and the gardener, the gathering and the garden are set side by side. The word "mihr", in its dictionary sense, means both love and the sun and creates a tevriye (double entendre): in the garden of the world a sapling is sought whose fruit is love, and one may also imagine a tree that bears the sun as its fruit.

The third couplet continues with the same word. "Mihr-i bî-zevâl", in its dictionary sense, is the sun that never sets or wanes; "zevâl" means both the sun's decline from its zenith and passing away. Soul and heart are thought of as a "realm", and the sun that is to illumine it is left as the beloved or as a love that never fades. The repetition of the redif at the beginning of the line as well in this couplet ("Kanı ol mihr-i bî-zevâl kanı") turns the insistence of the search into sound.

The fourth and fifth couplets describe the lover's helplessness. In separation there is fear for his life, and no chance of union; the will has surrendered to love, and no strength remains to endure. The link between "ihtiyâr" (will) and "elden gitmek" (to slip from the hand) makes the idiom coincide with the literal sense of the words.

The sixth couplet rests on two familiar mazmuns (conventional images) of divan poetry: the beloved's mouth is so small that it is as if it did not exist, and the waist so slender that it cannot be seen. When one thinks of the mouth "there is no word", for nothing can be said about something that does not exist; the word "söz" (word) is also connected with the mouth. In describing the waist there is not even "kîl ü kāl", in its dictionary sense idle talk or gossip. It is noteworthy that this couplet is absent from two old manuscripts (OR and İBB). The last couplet closes the ghazal with the word imagination. The lover once consoled himself with imagination; now even that world of imagination is gone. The reading "gamda" in T, M1 and M2, by saying that the whiling away took place in grief, gives the couplet a different colour.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2018, p. 176, poem no. 138 (manuscript information in the footnote on the same page).

Online sources