Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Vaṣl-ı yāri ‘āşıḳa olmaz müfīd itmek heves
Cānib-i dil-dārdan bir iltifat olursa bes
Cān bedende fikr-i aġyār ile bir bülbül durur
Kim aña zāġ u zeġan cem‘ olup olmış hem-ḳafes
Rişte-i ümmīd göñlüm ṣaldı zülfüñ bendine
Ṣañasın ḳayd oldı dām-ı ‘ankebūt içre mekes
‘Işḳ içinde ‘āşıḳ isterse rıżāsın bulmaġı
Dōstuñ aña rıżāsın gözlemek olsun heves
Dest-i res olsa viṣāle dest-i res mümkin midür
Dest-i resle olsa ‘Adlī bulur idi dest-i res

In English

1. To desire union with the beloved brings the lover no benefit; if a single kind regard comes from the side of the heart-holder, that is enough.

2. The soul in the body, thinking of rivals, is like a nightingale put into the same cage with crows and rooks. (İBB reads "sharing the same breath" for "in the same cage".)

3. My heart let down the thread of hope into the bonds of your lock of hair; you would think a fly had been caught in a spider's web.

4. If the lover in love wishes to attain contentment, let his desire be to watch for the Friend's contentment with him. (The couplet can be read in two ways: the "rızâ" (contentment, approval) of the first line can be understood as the lover's own satisfaction or as the beloved's approval; in both readings the way lies through attending to the beloved's pleasure.)

5. If there were a hand reaching out to union, would attaining it be possible? Were attainment by reaching hands, Adlî would long since have attained. ("Dest-res" in its dictionary sense means the reach of one's hand, the power to attain.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has five couplets and is written in the remel pattern "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". It has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the sound "-es": heves, bes, kafes, mekes and res. The first rhyme word of the opening couplet, "heves", is used again in rhyme position in the fourth couplet. In a short ghazal such a repetition stands out, but here it is bound up with the meaning: the "heves" (desire) said in the opening couplet to be futile returns in the fourth couplet as a desire turned in the right direction. In the edition the ghazal is found in all five manuscripts (OR, T, M1, M2, İBB) and stands in the section of the divan for refrains ending in the letter "sîn". According to Bayram's apparatus, in the second couplet T reads "olmışlar" for "olmış" and İBB "hem-nefes" for "hem-kafes"; in the fourth couplet OR and İBB read "ister kim" for "isterse", and in the fifth OR writes "dest olsa" for "dest-res olsa". To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The central idea of the ghazal is that union cannot be won by the lover's effort and depends on the beloved's grace. The opening couplet says this plainly: desiring union is of no use, and a single kind regard from the beloved is enough for the lover. The fifth couplet closes the same thought with wordplay, so that the beginning and the end of the ghazal are linked.

In the second couplet the soul is likened to a nightingale in the cage of the body. The comparison is common in divan poetry; the detail Adlî adds is that the nightingale is not alone in the cage. As the lover thinks of his rivals, his soul becomes a nightingale shut into the same cage with crows (zâğ u zeğan). The contrast between the nightingale's lovely song and the crows' harsh cries shows the difference between the lover and the rivals, and there is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among nightingale, crow and cage. In the third couplet the beloved's lock of hair is likened to a snare, a spider's web. The heart wants to hold on to the lock with the "rişte-i ümmîd" (thread of hope), but the outcome is the plight of a fly caught in a web. That thread and web are things of the same kind strengthens the comparison: the thread of hope has become entangled in the web of the lock.

The fourth couplet gives the ghazal's counsel. If the lover wants to find his own contentment, he must turn his desire toward attending to the Friend's contentment. The binding of the word "rızâ" to two different persons in the two lines is the knot of the couplet; since it is not clear whose contentment is meant in the first line, both readings are given together in the English section. In the language of Sufism the word "dost" (Friend) is also used for God; it could be said that the couplet may be understood in that direction as well, but the rest of the ghazal is built on the familiar images that describe the beloved.

The makta is built by repeating the expressions "dest-res" (attainment, the reach of one's hand) and "dest-i res" four times. This repetition, and the reuse of the same words with small differences, are examples of the figures of tekrir (repetition) and cinas (paronomasia). The poet asks whether there is a hand that reaches out to union and answers with his own case: were union possible by a reaching hand, Adlî would long since have attained it. In this way the thought stated in the opening couplet is repeated, now bound to the poet's own name.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2018, p. 75, poem no. 37 (manuscript variants in the footnote on p. 75).

Online sources