Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilātün fe‘ilün

Devr-i güldür çün ider devr-i ḳadeh cānı feraḥ
‘Āḳil oldur ki ṭutar her dem ol avānı feraḥ
Dile geldükce ḫayāli ġamı teskīn iderem
Merdüm olan ṭutar elbette de mihmānı feraḥ
Diller alduḳca sevinse n'ola ol şāh-ı cemāl
Memleket fetḥi ider ḫāṭır-ı sulṭānı feraḥ
Cāndur īs̱ārumuz incinme ayaġuñ tozına
Tuḥfe-i mūr ider çünki Süleymān'ı feraḥ
‘Adliyā ‘āşıḳı ġamgīn dilerimiş dil-ber
Gel ġamile geçin it ḫāṭır-ı cānānı feraḥ

In English

1. It is the season of the rose; the cup passing from hand to hand in the gathering cheers the soul. The wise man is the one who spends this time in gladness at every moment.

2. Whenever the image of the beloved comes to my heart, I soothe my sorrow; one who is truly human keeps his guest content. (Merdüm means both "human being" and "pupil of the eye"; the couplet can also be read as "the pupil of the eye surely treats its guest, the beloved's image, with kindness.")

3. Is it any wonder if that sovereign of beauty rejoices as he takes hearts? The conquest of a country gladdens the sultan's heart.

4. Our gift to you is the soul; do not take offence at the dust of your foot (at so small an offering). For even the ant's gift gladdens Solomon.

5. O Adlî, they say the beloved wants the lover to be sorrowful; come, make peace with sorrow and so please the beloved's heart.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a ghazal (gazel) of five couplets. The redif (refrain word) is "ferah" (cheerful, glad), and the rhyme is the sound "-ânı": cânı, avânı, mihmânı, sultânı, Süleymân'ı, cânânı. The metre is the remel pattern "fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilün". The ghazal, which appears in the edition as Bayram's number 16, is found in the OR, T, M1 and M2 manuscripts and is absent from İBB. The variants are minor: in the fourth couplet OR has "mûrdur" in place of "mûr" (ant), and in the fifth couplet T has "geçir" in place of "geçin". To whom and when the poem was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens with spring and the wine gathering, then turns to the sorrow of love. In the first line of the opening couplet the word "devr" is used twice and in two different senses: "devr-i gül" is the season of the rose, while "devr-i kadeh" is the passing of the cup in turn among those seated at the gathering. Repeating the same word with different meanings is the figure called cinas (pun). In the second couplet the word "merdüm" creates a tevriye (double entendre): it means both "human being" and "pupil of the eye". In the first sense, treating one's guest well is what humanity requires; in the second, the pupil of the eye hosts the image of the beloved that has come to it as a guest. In divan poetry the image of the beloved lodging as a guest in the eye or the heart is a common motif.

The third couplet likens the beloved's taking of hearts to a ruler's conquest of a country. The beloved is "şâh-ı cemâl", the sovereign of beauty; his joy in seizing hearts is set equal to the joy a sultan feels at a conquest. The image in the couplet is drawn from the world of court and war; when one remembers that the poet was a ruler, the comparison becomes all the more striking. Even so, in the couplet the conquering sultan is the beloved, while the lover is one of the captured hearts.

The fourth couplet contains an allusion (telmih). The Sura of the Ant (Neml) in the Qur'an tells the story of the prophet Solomon and the ants; in divan poetry the small gift the ant offers to Solomon (tuhfe-i mûr) is cited as the example of a present of little worth but given from the heart. The lover regards the soul he offers the beloved as being as small as the ant's gift and asks the beloved not to scorn it. The phrase "the dust of your foot" carries the same humility: the lover counts what he offers as worthless as the dust that touches the beloved's foot. Here the beloved stands in Solomon's place and the lover in the ant's; the distance between king and servant is set up once again. In the last couplet (makta) the ghazal moves away from the cheerful mood of its opening: the beloved wants to see the lover sorrowful, and so Adlî counsels himself to make peace with sorrow.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018, p. 54, poem no. 16 (manuscript variants in the footnote on p. 54). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr