Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

‘Āşıḳa hicrānda olsa yine bir bī-dil enīs
Ṣan olur faṣl-ı ḫazānda bülbüle bülbül enīs
Ḳadd ü ruḫsāruñ firāḳında gülistān seyrine
Varduġumca baña olur servlerle gül enīs
Ṣanuram gülzār içinde bülbül ü gül cem‘ olur
Her ḳaçan kim ola ol ruḫsār ile kākül enīs
Ḫāk-i dergāhuñ gedāsından iñen ‘ār eyleme
Gāh olur kim şāha olur bende-i muḳbil enīs
Ruḫlaruñda ḫāl-i ‘anber-bāruñı gören didi
Ḫoş yaraşmış ki ola kāfūr ile fülfül enīs
‘Adliyā gel sen de inṣāf eyle şehlikden murād
Bu degül midür ki ola ol ṣaçı sünbül enīs
Bāreke'llāh sen gedā ol pādşāh-ı ḥüsndür
Olduġı var mı cihānda şāha ola ḳul enīs

In English

1. If, in separation, a lover is again joined by a companion who has also lost his heart, it is as if, in the season of autumn, a nightingale were joined by a nightingale.

2. Whenever I go to look at the rose garden in separation from your stature and cheek, cypresses and the rose become my companions. (The cypress recalls the stature, the rose the cheek.)

3. Whenever the forelock becomes companion to that cheek, I think the nightingale and the rose come together in the rose garden. (The black forelock is likened to the nightingale, the cheek to the rose; the couplet is absent from T.)

4. Do not be too ashamed of the beggar in the dust of your threshold; at times a fortunate servant also becomes companion to the king.

5. One who saw the amber-scented beauty spot on your cheeks said: how well it suits for camphor and black pepper to be companions. (The white cheek is likened to camphor, the black beauty spot to black pepper.)

6. Adlî, come, be fair yourself: is not the purpose of kingship to be companion to that beloved whose hair is like the hyacinth?

7. God bless it, you are a beggar and that one is the sultan of beauty; has it ever happened in the world that a servant was companion to a king?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has seven couplets and is written in the remel pattern "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "enîs" (companion, intimate friend), and the rhyme is the sound "-l": bülbül, gül, kâkül, mukbil, fülfül, sünbül, kul. In the edition it is found in all five manuscripts (OR, T, M1, M2, İBB) and is the poem of the section of the divan for refrains ending in the letter "sîn". T lacks the third couplet; the same manuscript reads "ruhlarında" for "ruhlarunda" and "imiş ola" for "yaraşmış k'ola" in the fifth couplet. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

All the couplets of the ghazal are built around "enîs", the idea of companionship, and each couplet shows a pair that matches one another. In the opening couplet two lovers in separation are likened to two nightingales who come together in autumn. The nightingale sings in spring when the rose opens; in autumn there is no rose, and the nightingales can only share one another's sorrow. In the second couplet the lover, parted from the beloved, goes to the rose garden and takes the cypresses and the rose as companions, because the cypress recalls the beloved's stature and the rose the cheek. The couplet names first the stature and then the cheek, and among their counterparts first the cypress and then the rose. This is the regular leff ü neşr, in which the order is kept.

The third and fifth couplets describe the beloved's face through contrasts of colour. The forelock, being black, is likened to the nightingale, and the cheek is thought of as a rose; the forelock falling on the cheek is like the meeting of nightingale and rose in the rose garden. In the fifth couplet the white cheek is likened to camphor and the black beauty spot to fülfül, black pepper. Camphor and amber are fragrant substances; this is why the beauty spot is described as "‘anber-bâr" (amber-shedding). The placing of white beside black is antithesis (tezat), and the fact that camphor, amber and pepper are words from the same perfumer's shop is a congruence of images (tenasüp).

The fourth, sixth and seventh couplets work the relation between king and servant, and here the irony in Adlî's poems lies within the text. In the fourth couplet the beloved is the king and the lover a beggar at the threshold; the poet tells the beloved not to be ashamed of this beggar, because at times a fortunate servant also becomes companion to the king. In the sixth couplet, however, the poet addresses himself and asks the purpose of kingship: is not the purpose of kingship to be companion to a beloved whose hair is like the hyacinth? The one asking this question was in reality a sultan; the "şehlik" (kingship) of the couplet can therefore also be read as something a ruler says about his own reign. The makta at once takes this hope back. In the couplet that opens with "bârekallah" (God bless it), the poet reminds himself of the truth: the beloved is the sultan of beauty, and he is a beggar; it has never been seen in the world that a servant was companion to a king. That what is said in the fourth couplet to "happen" is questioned in the makta with "has it ever happened" shows the structure of the ghazal, swinging between hope and hopelessness.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2018, p. 73, poem no. 35 (manuscript variants in the footnote on p. 73).

Online sources