Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ḳaşı ḫayāli hilālüñ ḳadin kemān itmiş
Ne fā’ide ki bu fikrinden ol ziyān itmiş
Meger ki māh-ı münīr ayaġuña yüz sürmiş
Ki cebhesinde ayaġuñ tozı nişān itmiş
Çemende bülbül-i ḫoş-gūy ‘aczini bilüben
Gülüñ leṭāyifine ḫārı hem-zebān itmiş
Bu ṣūret ile feraḥ kesb idüp şeh-i gül anuñ
Öñinde her nesi var ise der-miyān itmiş
Şeh oldı zümre-i ‘uşşāḳa derd ile ‘Adlī
Bu nā-murādlıġ anı da kāmrān itmiş

In English

1. The fancy of your eyebrow has bent the crescent's stature like a bow; to what use, since from this thought the crescent has suffered loss. (The crescent bowed in wishing to resemble the beloved's eyebrow, but in doing so it grew thin and wasted away. T reads "kadüñ" (your stature) for "kadin" (its stature).)

2. The shining moon must have rubbed its face on your foot, so that the dust of your foot has left a mark on its forehead. (The spots on the moon are explained as the trace of dust left on the forehead of the moon that rubbed its face on the beloved's foot. T reads "süreymiş" for "sürmiş", and OR "onto its forehead" for "on its forehead".)

3. In the meadow the sweet-voiced nightingale, knowing its own helplessness, made the thorn its partner in speech for the rose's graces. (The couplet can be read in two ways: the nightingale, unable to answer the rose's refinements, has left the speaking to the thorn beside the rose; or it has made a partnership between its own tongue and the thorn. "Hem-zebân" in its dictionary sense means one who speaks the same language, one of the same word.)

4. Gaining joy by this sight, the king of roses has poured out before it whatever it had. (The opening rose seems to spread all its petals before the nightingale. T, M1 and M2 read "by this voice" for "by this sight"; the rose is then gladdened by the nightingale's song.)

5. Through pain Adlî became king over the company of lovers; this lack of fulfilment has made him too one whose wishes are fulfilled.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has five couplets and is written in the müctes pattern "mefâ‘ilün fe‘ilâtün mefâ‘ilün fe‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "itmiş" (has made), and the rhyme is the sound "-ân": kemân, ziyân, nişân, hem-zebân, der-miyân and kâmrân. In the edition it 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 "şîn". Bayram's apparatus records manuscript variants for every couplet except the third; the one that most affects the meaning is the reading of T, M1 and M2 in the fourth couplet, "savtıyile" (by this voice) for "sûretile" (by this sight). In the makta M1, M2 and İBB read "nâ-murâdlığı anı" for "nâ-murâdlığ anı da". To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal can be read in two parts. The first two couplets describe the beloved's beauty through the image of the moon, the third and fourth turn to the story of the rose and the nightingale, and the makta ties this story to the poet himself.

In the opening couplet the crescent, thinking of the beloved's eyebrow, has bent its stature like a bow. The likening of the eyebrow to a bow and to the crescent is among the familiar comparisons of divan poetry; Adlî presents it as a wish of the crescent. The crescent wanted to resemble the eyebrow but from this thought suffered only loss. The word "ziyân" means in its dictionary sense harm or loss; it also calls to mind the thinning and waning of the crescent. Finding a fanciful cause for the phases of the moon in the sky is the figure called hüsn-i talil (poetic aetiology). The second couplet explains the spots on the moon with the same figure: the shining moon has rubbed its face on the beloved's foot, and the dust of the foot has left a mark on its forehead. In these couplets, where even the heavenly bodies bow before the beloved, the moon is like a lover who shrinks before the beloved.

In the third couplet the sweet-voiced nightingale in the meadow knows its helplessness before the rose's grace and makes the thorn beside the rose its "hem-zebân" (partner in speech). Since the full meaning of the couplet is not clear, two readings are given in the English section. The ties between rose and thorn, rose and nightingale form a congruence of images (tenasüp) in the couplet. In the fourth couplet the rose is called a king. The king of roses, gaining joy, has poured out whatever it had before the nightingale; the opening rose scattering its petals is likened to a ruler pouring out his treasury. In the edition's reading "sûret", what gladdens the rose is the nightingale's appearance or this situation; in the reading "savt" (voice) of three manuscripts it is the nightingale's song. The second reading suits the story of nightingale and rose better, but the edition has followed the reading of OR and İBB.

The makta puts the poet in the place of the nightingale left helpless before the rose. Through pain Adlî has become the king of the company of lovers. The contrast between "nâ-murâdlık" (failing to attain one's wish) and "kâmrân" (one whose wishes are fulfilled, fortunate) is antithesis (tezat), and the couplet resolves this contrast: failing to attain one's wish makes the lover one whose wishes are fulfilled. Here kingship is truly the subject of the couplet. A sultan counting himself king among lovers because of pain sets up a reflection between kingship in the poem and sovereignty in life. The particle "da" (too) in the makta says that Adlî also shares in the happiness that this lack of fulfilment brings.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2018, p. 78, poem no. 40 (manuscript variants in the footnote on p. 78).

Online sources