Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün

Senüñ zencīr-i zülfüñden dil-i dīvāne bend ister
Uṣandı hicr ile cāndan aṣılmaġa kemend ister
N'ola meyl eylese ḫaṭṭuñ ġıdā-yı la‘l-i nābuña
Çü ṭūṭī ḳande olursa ġıdā yirine ḳand ister
Mey-i la‘lin içüp vā‘iẓ ḫumār-ı çeşm-i yār olduḳ
Aña di va‘ẓ u tefsīri ki senden nuṣḥ u pend ister
Cihānuñ ‘izzet ü cāhını terk itdi levend-i dil
Çü cümle şimdi dil-berler yaḳasuz bir levend ister
Lebüñ dārü'ş-şifāsından umar dil derdine dermān
Ṭabīb-i ḫaste-dillersin devāsın derdmend ister
Göñül künc-i ḳanā‘atde otur giy ḫırḳa-i ḥüzni
Çü ol şeh ḳulların dā’im faḳīr ü müstemend ister
Ḫayāl-i sīm-ber itmeñ aña beñzer senüñ ‘Adlī
Gedā ḫāk üzre yaturken gümişden taḫta-bend ister

In English

1. The mad heart asks for a fetter from the chain of your curls; weary of life through separation, it asks for a lasso to hang itself. (In the past madmen were put in chains; hence the curls are a chain and the heart is mad.)

2. Is it any wonder if the down on your cheek inclines to make your ruby lip its food? Wherever the parrot may be, it asks for sugar as its food. (The greenish down on the cheek is likened to a parrot and the lip to sugar; the down descends towards the edge of the lip.)

3. O preacher, we drank the red wine of the beloved's lip and fell into the languor of the beloved's eye; tell your sermon and your exegesis to the one who asks you for counsel and advice.

4. The heart, that levend (carefree youth), has given up the honour and rank of this world; for now all the beauties want a levend without a collar. ("Collarless" seems to describe one who cares nothing for finery or ties; M1 and M2 have "the moon-faced ones" in place of "all the beauties".)

5. The heart hopes for the cure of its pain from the hospital of your lip; you are the physician of those sick at heart, and the afflicted one asks you for his remedy.

6. O heart, sit in the corner of contentment and put on the cloak of grief; for that king always wants his servants poor and in need.

7. O Adlî, your dreaming of the silver-bodied beloved is like this: a beggar lying on the bare earth asks for a tahtabend (a boarded floor) made of silver.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The attribution of this ghazal is disputed. In Yavuz Bayram's edition it appears as a poem by Adlî on the basis of four manuscripts (OR, T, M1, M2); in Latîfî's biographical anthology of poets (tezkire), however, the opening couplet is given in the entry on Bayezid II's father, Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror (Avnî), as his poem, under the heading "Velehu" (also his). The opening couplet is not found in the Avnî Divanı edited by Muhammed Nur Doğan.

The ghazal (gazel) has seven couplets. The redif (refrain word) is "ister" (asks for, wants), and the rhyme is the sound "-end/-and": bend, kemend, kand, pend, levend, derdmend, müstemend, tahta-bend. The metre is the hezec pattern of aruz (quantitative metre), "mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün". In the edition it stands in the section of refrains ending in the letter "râ"; it is absent from the İBB manuscript. Variants affect the meaning in a few places: in the second couplet OR has "‘izârı" (his cheek) in place of "gıdâ-yı"; in the third couplet T, M1 and M2 have "harâb-ı" (ruined by) in place of "humâr-ı" (the languor of); and in the fourth couplet M1 and M2 have "meh-rûlar" in place of "dil-berler". To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet rests on one of the best-known motifs of divan poetry. The beloved's long, coiling curls are likened to a chain, and the lover's heart is "dîvâne", mad. The old practice of chaining madmen ties the two images together: the mad heart seeks in the beloved's curls the chain that will bind it. In the second line the chain turns into a lasso; the lover, weary of separation, thinks of the same curls as the rope with which to hang himself. Chain, fetter and lasso form a tenasüp (congruence of images).

In the second couplet the fine down (hat) on the beloved's face is likened, because of its colour, to a parrot, and the lip to sugar; the parrot's love of sugar is the ground of the couplet. The third and fourth couplets treat the familiar conflict between the preacher and the lover. The preacher gives counsel, while the lover is drunk on the wine of the beloved's lip and tells him to keep his counsel for whoever asks him for it. In the fourth couplet the heart is seen as a levend who has given up the glory and rank of this world. In the fifth couplet the beloved is a physician and the lip a hospital (dârü'ş-şifâ); pain, cure, remedy, physician and afflicted are words chosen from one field.

The sixth couplet shows the relation of king and servant that is frequent in Adlî's poems. The beloved is "that king" who always wants to see his servants poor and needy; the heart complies, withdraws into the corner of contentment and puts on the cloak of grief. Cloak and the corner of contentment are words taken from dervish life. In the last couplet, dreaming of the silver-bodied (sîm-ber) beloved is likened to a beggar lying on the earth asking for a boarded floor of silver. "Sîm" and "gümiş" say the same thing, silver, in two languages; beggar and earth, silver and boarded floor answer one another. The couplet is a teşbih-i temsîl, a comparison that explains one situation through another, in which the lover openly admits that his goal is beyond his reach.

Historical Context

In his entry on Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, Latîfî relates that he was inclined to poetry and from time to time composed single couplets and ghazals under the pen name (mahlas) Avnî, and he quotes two opening couplets, saying "these two opening couplets are among his verses". The second of them is the opening couplet of this ghazal; only, in Latîfî's text the second line reads "Usandı derd ile" in place of "Usandı hicr ile". This testimony shows that the opening couplet was also ascribed to Mehmed the Conqueror. On the other hand, the ghazal appears as Adlî's poem in four of the five manuscripts Bayram used to establish the Adlî Divanı, and it is not found in Doğan's edition of the Avnî Divanı. Because the sources divide in this way, it cannot be said with certainty to which of the two sultans the opening couplet really belongs; the edition has kept it in Adlî's divan.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018, p. 57, poem no. 19 (manuscript variants in the footnote on p. 57). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Latîfî, Tezkiretü'ş-Şuarâ ve Tabsıratü'n-Nuzamâ, ed. Rıdvan Canım, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), p. 99 (entry on Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Muhammed Nur Doğan (ed.), Avnî (Fatih) Dîvânı, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., Kültür Eserleri 425 (e-book). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr