Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Görse bülbül nāleler eyler cemālini gülüñ
Gūş olupdur gül işitmege fiġānın bülbülüñ
Gül yüzüñ rengi ḥayādan ġarḳ-ı āb itdi güli
Pīç ü tāb-ı kākülüñ tābın giderdi sünbülüñ
Boynumı burdı benefşe ḫaṭṭuñuñ sevdāları
Göñlümi sevdāyile başdan çıḳardı kākülüñ
Murġzāruñ murġ-ı zārı olalıdan cān u dil
Ṣıḳlıġın diñdürdi feryādum çemende bülbülüñ
Eşk-i çeşmüñden gül-āb itseñ yeridür ‘Adliyā
Tāc-ı şāhīden baş aġrısı degül mi ḥāṣıluñ

In English

1. When the nightingale sees the beauty of the rose it breaks into laments; and the rose has become all ears to hear the nightingale's cry.

2. The colour of your rose-like face drowned the rose in water for shame; the coil and gleam of your forelock took away the hyacinth's lustre. (One who is ashamed breaks into a sweat; the wetness of the rose is imagined as the sweat of this shame. The couplet can be understood in this way.)

3. Passion for your down bent the violet's neck; your forelock, with passion, drove my heart out of my head. (The violet is spoken of as a flower with a bowed neck; the fine down on the cheek, the hat, is likened to the violet for its dark colour.)

4. Ever since heart and soul became the moaning bird of your bird-meadow, my cries have stilled the nightingale's ceaseless singing in the garden. (The word "sıklık" has been understood here as the nightingale's repeated, dense singing. Manuscript T reads "giderdi", "took away", for "diñdürdi".)

5. O Adlî, you would do well to make rosewater from the tears of your eyes; is not a headache all you have gained from the royal crown? (In manuscript M2 the second line of this couplet is missing.)

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". The redif (refrain word) is the suffix "-üñ / -uñ" (your, its), and the rhyme is the sound "-ül": gül, bülbül, sünbül, kâkül and, in the closing couplet, hâsıl. The word "bülbül" (nightingale) serves twice as a rhyme, in the opening couplet and in the fourth. 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 "kef". In manuscript M2 the second line of the closing couplet is missing; the only other variant is T's reading of "giderdi" for "dindirdi" in the fourth couplet. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens with the best-known pair in divan poetry, the rose and the nightingale. The nightingale laments when it sees the rose's beauty, and the rose becomes all ears to hear the nightingale's cry. The nightingale stands for the lover, the rose for the beloved; but in this opening couplet the rose too is not indifferent to the nightingale. A congruence of images (tenasüp) is formed between seeing and hearing, nâle and figân (lament and cry). In the second couplet the beloved's face leaves the flowers of the garden behind. Before the colour of the rose-like face the rose sweats with shame; the coil and gleam of the forelock take away the hyacinth's lustre. "Tâb" means, in its dictionary sense, both coil and lustre or strength; its use twice in the line forms a pun (cinas). Setting the beloved above the flowers is a teşbih-i tafdil, that is, a simile in which the thing compared is shown as superior.

The third couplet is built on the word "sevdâ" used twice. Passion for the beloved's down has bent the violet's neck; the violet is spoken of in divan poetry as a sad flower with a bowed neck, and the couplet ties this appearance to an imaginary cause. This is an example of hüsn-i talil. The forelock too has driven the lover's heart out of his head with passion. "Sevdâ" means, in its dictionary sense, both love and the colour black, and beside the dark down and the hair it carries both meanings at once. There is a congruence of images between neck and head, violet and forelock.

In the fourth couplet the play of sound comes to the fore. "Murgzâr" means, in its dictionary sense, a place where birds gather, a meadow; "murg-ı zâr" means a moaning bird. The likeness of sound between the two expressions forms a pun. The lover's heart and soul have become the moaning bird of the beloved's garden, and his cries have silenced even the nightingale in the meadow. Thus the nightingale that made the rose weep in the opening couplet falls silent in the fourth before the lover's cries.

The closing couplet is one of the sharpest examples of the irony in Adlî's poems. The poet addresses himself: he would do well to make rosewater from his tears, for all he has gained from the royal crown is a headache. In divan poetry rosewater is spoken of as something good for a headache; the couplet can be understood through this connection. The word gül-âb (rosewater) also carries the rose of the beginning of the ghazal into its last couplet. There is a congruence of images between crown and head, headache and rosewater. The poet who says that the only thing the crown has brought is a headache is a prince or a sultan; the couplet can therefore also be read beyond a lover's complaint, as a saying about the burden of the throne. There is no information showing whether the couplet belongs to the Amasya years or to the years of the reign.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2018, p. 94, poem no. 56 (manuscript variants in the footnote on p. 94).

Online sources