Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü mefā‘īlü mefā‘īlü fe‘ūlün

La‘l-i leb-i cānāne ki şīrīn ruṭab olmış
Ehl-i dile acı sözi anuñ ‘aceb olmış
Ḳan itmege taḥrīk iden ġamzesiyimiş
‘Āşıḳları dār itmege zülfi sebeb olmış
Gerçi ṭaleb itmek ile cānān ele girmez
Cānāne yine irmege bā‘is̱ ṭaleb olmış
Aġyār nigār ile ṣafā bezmini eyler
‘Uşşāḳa ezel ḳısmeti renc ü ta‘ab olmış
Diş biler imiş ‘Adli leb-i la‘l-i nigāre
Miḳdārını bilmez ne ‘aceb bī-edeb olmış

In English

1. The ruby lip of the beloved has become sweet fresh dates; how strange that its words to the people of heart are bitter. (The ruby (lal) is a red precious stone; the lip is likened to the ruby for its colour and to dates for its taste.)

2. The one who incites to bloodshed turns out to be the beloved's sidelong glance; the beloved's lock of hair has been the cause of hanging lovers on the gallows. (The gamze is the beloved's languid, deadly glance; the long hair is likened to the rope that hangs the lover.)

3. Although the beloved is not won by seeking, it is still seeking that has been the cause of reaching the beloved. (In the second line OR reads "yanaram ki" (I burn, for) for "yine irmege" (still to reach).)

4. The rival holds the banquet of pleasure with the picture-fair beloved; the lovers' portion from pre-eternity has been pain and toil.

5. Adlî, it seems, has been whetting his teeth for the beloved's ruby lip; he does not know his place, how strange, he has grown impudent. ("Diş bilemek" (to whet one's teeth) in its dictionary sense means to watch for a chance to seize something; since lip and teeth are named together, it also calls to mind a kiss.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has five couplets and is written in the hezec pattern "mef‘ûlü mefâ‘îlü mefâ‘îlü fe‘ûlün". The redif (refrain word) is "olmış" (has become), and the rhyme is the sound "-eb": rutab, aceb, sebeb, taleb, ta‘ab and bî-edeb. 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 only two variants, both in OR: "yanaram ki" for "yine irmege" in the third couplet, and "kısmet" for "kısmeti" in the fourth. To whom and when it was written is not known.

A confusion of numbering connected with this ghazal should also be recorded. In the introduction to the edition (p. 23), Bayram cites the couplet "Zulm ile yakdı cânumı cevr ü cefâ-yı rûzgâr / ‘Adl itmegiçün ol şeh-i hûbâna sıhhat yaraşur" among the examples showing the importance Bayezid II gave to justice, and refers to it as "G.41-6", that is, the sixth couplet of ghazal 41. In the text of the edition, however, ghazal 41 has five couplets, its redif is "olmış" and its metre is also different; the cited couplet could not be found either in this ghazal or anywhere else in the text section of the edition. The couplet appears as the sixth couplet of ghazal 41 in the divan of Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi (Erünsal's edition); for this reason the couplet from the introduction has not been linked to Adlî's Ghazal 41 in this article.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal works the contrast between the beloved's beauty and the pain the beloved causes the lover. In the opening couplet the beloved's ruby lip is likened to sweet fresh dates (rutab), yet from this sweet lip bitter words come to the people of heart. Binding sweet and bitter to the same lip is antithesis (tezat); the poet says this is "aceb", strange, something to wonder at. A link of both colour and taste is made among ruby, dates and lip.

The second couplet shows the elements of the beloved's beauty as so many executioners. What incites to bloodshed is the beloved's gamze, and what hangs lovers on the gallows is the lock of hair. The likening of the gamze to an arrow, a dagger or a shedder of blood, and of the long lock to a rope, are among the familiar images of divan poetry. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among the notions of blood, "dâr" (gallows) and hanging. The suffix "imiş" in "gamzesiyimiş" shows that the identity of this instigator was only realised afterwards.

The third couplet carries the thought of the ghazal. The beloved is not won by seeking; nonetheless the cause of reaching the beloved is still seeking. The couplet says that effort does not bring the result directly, but that the road leading to the result also passes through effort. The repetition of the word "taleb" (seeking) in both lines brings this seemingly contradictory thought to the fore. In the fourth couplet the rival and the lovers are set face to face: while the rival holds a banquet of pleasure with the beloved, what has fallen to the lovers' lot from pre-eternity is pain and toil. The expression "ezel kısmeti" (portion from pre-eternity) conveys that this situation is a share written from the very beginning, beyond the lover's control. There is antithesis between safa (pleasure) and renc ü ta‘ab (pain and toil).

The makta returns to the ruby lip of the opening couplet. Adlî is "whetting his teeth" for the beloved's ruby lip, that is, watching for a chance to seize it. The congruence between lip and teeth also links the idiom to the wish for a kiss. The second half of the line rebukes the poet in his own voice: he does not know his place, how strange, he has grown impudent. This self-deprecating language recalls the line "Gör bilür mi haddini Adlî" in ghazal 39, which comes two poems before it in the divan. That the one accused of not knowing his place was a sultan lends the couplet a further subtle irony, but the words king and servant do not appear in it explicitly. The poet who in the opening couplet called the bitter words from a sweet lip "aceb" calls his own audacity "aceb" in the makta as well; the ghazal thus opens and closes with the same word.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2018, p. 79, poem no. 41 (manuscript variants in the footnote on p. 79; the "G.41-6" reference in the introduction on p. 23).

Online sources