Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Da‘vi-i ḥüsn eyleyüp gün vechi yoḳ ger ura lāf
Çün yüzüñ āyinesi gibi degül mir‘ātı ṣāf
İt gibi bekler ‘ases ṭutmaḳ diler mey-ḫᵛāreyi
Yā ġıyās̱e'l-müstaġīsīn neccinā mimmā nehāf
Pertev-i nūr-ı cemālüñ görmege iy meh senüñ
Ka‘be-i kūyuñ melā’ik her dem iderler ṭavāf
Hep cihān iy meh-liḳā sen şāha olmışdur muṭī‘
Leşker-i ġamzeñ kimüñle ṣaf ṭutup eyler maṣāf
Serverā sırr-ı dehānuñda senüñ ḥayrān ḫıred
‘Āciz olmış ‘uḳde-i zülfüñde ‘aḳl-ı mū-şikāf
İy göñül saña müsellem ṣanma bu derd ü belā
Çeşm-i pür-ḫışmı nigāruñ kimse’i ḳılmaz mu‘āf
Ḫırḳa-i ṣabrı giyüp eyler ḳanā‘atden kemer
Künc-i ġamda ‘Adli çün bulmaz nihāyet i‘tikāf

In English

1. If the sun lays claim to beauty and boasts of it, it has no ground, for its mirror is not pure and bright like your face. (The word "vech" in the line means both "face" and "ground, way": the sun has neither the right to boast nor a face like yours.)

2. The night watchman waits like a dog, wanting to catch the wine-drinker. "O Helper of those who cry for help, save us from what we fear." (The second line is an Arabic prayer.)

3. O moon-faced one, in order to see the radiance of the light spreading from the beauty of your face, the angels at every moment circle the Kaaba of your street.

4. O moon-faced one, the whole world has submitted to you, the king; with whom, then, should the army of your glance draw up its ranks and go to battle?

5. O lord, reason stands bewildered before the secret of your mouth; reason that splits a hair has been left helpless in untying the knot of your curls.

6. O heart, do not think that this pain and affliction has been given to you alone; the beloved's wrathful eye spares no one.

7. Adlî puts on the cloak of patience and girds himself with the belt of contentment, for his retreat in the corner of grief finds no end.

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". It has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the sound "-âf": lâf, sâf, nehâf, tavâf, masâf, mû-şikâf, mu‘âf, i‘tikâf. In the edition the ghazal is found in all five manuscripts (OR, T, M1, M2, İBB) and is the only poem of the section of the divan for refrains ending in the letter "fâ". The manuscript variants are mostly differences of a single word. OR and T read "göz" (eye) for "gün" (sun) in the opening couplet; it is then the eye, not the sun, that lays claim to beauty. In the sixth couplet T reads "nergis-i çeşm" (narcissus eye) for "çeşm-i pür-hışm" (wrathful eye). İBB gives the first line of the closing couplet as "her dem kanâ‘atdür işi". To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet begins with a contest of beauty. If the sun lays claim to beauty and boasts, it has no ground, for its mirror is not pure like the beloved's face. The word "vech" means, in its dictionary sense, both "face" and "ground, way"; the phrase "gün vechi yok" in the line is understood both as "the sun has no right to this" and as "the sun has no such face". This is tevriye (double entendre). To rank the beloved's face above the sun is an exaggeration common in divan poetry; here the sun's defeat is tied to the purity of the mirror.

The second couplet is the most unusual place in the ghazal. The night watchman (ases) who waits like a dog to catch the wine-drinker is, in divan poetry, one of the figures hostile to the tavern, like the zahid (ascetic) and the market inspector (muhtesib). The second line is wholly in Arabic and is spoken as a sentence of prayer: "O Helper of those who cry for help, save us from what we fear." Setting an Arabic prayer beside a Turkish line wraps the plight of the libertine who fears the watchman in a voice at once grave and playful. In the third couplet the beloved's street is a Kaaba; the angels circle it there in order to see the light of the beloved's face. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words Kaaba, circumambulation and angel.

In the fourth couplet the beloved is the king, and the whole world has submitted to him. The glance is an army, but no one is left to fight against it. The words leşker (army), saf (rank) and masâf (battlefield) are in congruence; there is also a closeness of sound between "saf" and "masâf". The irony frequent in Adlî's poems is present in this couplet: it is the beloved who is named as the king to whom the world submits, whereas the one writing the poem is a ruler. In the fifth couplet the motifs of the small mouth and the knotted curls are set against reason. "Mû-şikâf" means, in its dictionary sense, "hair-splitting", that is, able to discern the finest detail; congruence is set up between the hair of the curls and the "hair-splitting" mind. In the sixth couplet the heart is warned not to think that the pain belongs to it alone.

The closing couplet is built with words of asceticism and Sufism. The cloak (hırka) is the dervish's garment, the belt (kemer) his girdle; "i‘tikâf" means, in its dictionary sense, withdrawing to a mosque for a time for worship. Like a dervish withdrawn into the corner of grief, Adlî puts on the cloak of patience and girds on the belt of contentment, for this retreat has no end. There is congruence among the words cloak, belt, corner and i‘tikâf. The sources quoted in Bayram's introduction speak of Bayezid's interest in Sufism; but there is no information showing a direct link between this couplet and that interest.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2018, p. 86, poem no. 48 (manuscript variants in the footnote on p. 86); for Bayezid's interest in Sufism, introduction, p. 22.

Online sources