Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Zülfinüñ zencīrine dil-ber dil ü cān baġlamış
Ġāret itmiş milk-i dīn ẓulm ile īmān baġlamış
Zülfi kāfirlik idüp her bir ḳılında biñ esīr
Aṣmaġa ḳaṣd eylemişdür çoḳ Müselmān baġlamış
Bi'llāh iy ehl-i naẓar eyleñ temāşā k'ol ṣanem
Zülfine her tābda bir māh-ı tābān baġlamış
Māh u ḫurşīdi felek meydānına ṭūp itmege
Çīn idüp gīsūların müşg ile çevgān baġlamış
Lu‘bla cāẕūlıġ içün her bir ṭarafda çeşmine
Rişte-i cānlar alup bir deste reyḥān baġlamış
Zülf ü ḫaṭṭuñ dir görenler ‘anberīn zencīr ile
Siḥr idüp cāẕū gözi ḫurşīd-i raḫşān baġlamış
‘Adli'nüñ naẓmın gören vaṣf-ı ruḫuñla didi kim
Cem‘ idüp evrāḳ-ı gül bir tāze dīvān baġlamış

In English

1. The heart-ravishing beloved has bound hearts and souls to the chain of his lock of hair; he has plundered the realm of religion and bound faith with tyranny.

2. His lock, playing the infidel, has bound a thousand captives in each of its strands; meaning to hang them, it has bound many a Muslim. (The blackness of the hair is equated with the darkness of unbelief; the captives tied to the strands are likened to men about to be hanged with a rope. OR reads "zâtı", that is "he himself", for "zülfi", "his lock".)

3. By God, you people of discernment, behold: that idol of beauty has bound a shining moon in every curl of his hair. (The moon is the beloved's face; the face glimpsed between the curls is like a moon bound into each twist.)

4. To drive the moon and the sun as balls across the field of the heavens, he has curled his tresses and bound a polo stick with musk. (In its dictionary sense the çevgân is the crooked-ended stick used in mounted polo; the curled, musk-scented black hair is likened to this stick.)

5. To work sorcery by play, he has taken the threads of souls on every side of his eye and bound a bunch of basil. (In its dictionary sense reyhan is basil; in divan poetry it is also used for the fine down on the face. The couplet is read differently in the manuscripts: T, İBB, M1 and M2 read "in play" for "by play"; T, M1 and M2 read "why the sorcerer" for "to work sorcery"; M1 and M2 read "to his beauty" for "to his eye", and T "to the sick one". For this reason the meaning of the couplet is not entirely clear.)

6. Those who see your lock and the down on your face say: your sorcerer eye, working its magic, has bound the radiant sun with an amber-scented chain. (The sun is the face; the amber chain is the black, fragrant hair and down.)

7. One who saw Adlî's verse describing your cheek said: he has gathered rose petals and bound a fresh divan. (Poems describing the rose-like cheek are rose petals, and gathering them together is like a bound collection of poems.)

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 "bağlamış" (has bound), and the rhyme is the sound "-ân": cân, îmân, Müselmân, tâbân, çevgân, reyhân, rahşân and dîvân. In the edition it is found in all five manuscripts (OR, T, M1, M2, İBB) and is the first poem of the section of the divan for refrains ending in the letter "şîn". The manuscript variants cluster in the fifth couplet, for which the apparatus records four separate divergences. Apart from these, M1 and M2 read "zencîrile" for "zencîrine" in the opening couplet, "itmeñ" for "eyleñ" in the third couplet (as does İBB) and "haddüñ" for "hattuñ" in the sixth (as does İBB); OR and İBB write "misk" for "müşg" in the fourth 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 the beloved's hair, and the redif "bağlamış" lists the various deeds of this hair. In divan poetry the lock is remembered for its length, blackness, curls and scent. In the opening couplet the lock is a chain to which hearts and souls are bound. In the same couplet the beloved, like a raider, has plundered the realm of religion and bound faith with tyranny. This religious language continues in the second couplet: the lock plays the infidel, holds a thousand captives in each strand and binds many a Muslim in order to hang them. The likening of black hair to unbelief, that is, to darkness, and the turning of the strand into a rope and of the bound ones into captives about to be hanged, are achieved through metaphor (istiare). There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words religion, faith, infidel and Muslim.

In the third and fourth couplets images of the heavens come to the fore. The beloved is called "sanem", in its dictionary sense an idol; this too is a familiar comparison saying that the beauty is lovely enough to be worshipped. A moon is bound into every curl of the lock. The word "tâb" in the couplet means in its dictionary sense both a twist or curl and radiance, and it also pairs in sound with the following word "tâbân" (shining); the couplet therefore contains double entendre (tevriye) and paronomasia (cinas) together. The fourth couplet draws on one of the games of court circles, mounted polo, the çevgân. To drive the moon and the sun like balls across the field of the heavens, the beloved has curled his hair and made a polo stick of it with musk. There is a congruence of images among field, ball and polo stick; the turning of the moon and the sun into balls is a hyperbole (mübalağa) saying that the beloved's beauty surpasses the heavenly bodies.

In the fifth and sixth couplets the eye and the down on the face (hat) are described, alongside the hair, through the image of sorcery. The eye is a sorcerer, and the hair and down are the bonds of this spell. The many variants with which the fifth couplet appears in the manuscripts make its meaning uncertain; the rendering in the English section rests on the reading chosen by the edition. In the sixth couplet the sorcerer eye has bound the radiant sun, that is, the face, with an amber-scented chain.

The makta ties the ghazal to poetry itself. One who sees Adlî's poems describing the beloved's cheek says that he has gathered rose petals and bound a new divan. The word "evrâk" means in its dictionary sense both leaves and paper pages, and "dîvân bağlamak" calls to mind gathering poems into a bound volume. This double entendre, set up among rose cheek, rose petal, page and divan, is a reference by Adlî to his own collection of poems. That the redif, after describing the bonds of the hair from the start, describes the binding of a book in the last couplet gives the ghazal a well-rounded close.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2018, p. 76, poem no. 38 (manuscript variants in the footnote on p. 76).

Online sources