Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ḳarār u ṣabrum alup beni bī-ḳarār itdüñ
Ṣaçuñ hevāsiyile ‘aḳlumı tārmār itdüñ
Firāḳuñ içre ġamuñ zehriyidi yidügümüz
Ecel şarābını ṣunmaḳla ḫoş-güvār itdüñ
Cefālaruñı ziyād eyledüñ ki minnetdür
Bu nā-tüvānı bu luṭf ile zīr-i bār itdüñ
Kenāre gelmeyüben sen kenār eyleyeli
Gözüm yaşını benüm bahr-ı bī-kenār itdüñ
Ḥisāb olınmaya yazılsa tā ki rūz-ı şümār
Ṣaçuñ girihleri kim dilde bī-şümār itdüñ
Bu ḥüsn ile ki şeh olduñ göñül vilāyetine
Ġamuñ diyārına ben ḳulı şehriyār itdüñ
Murādı ḫāk-i reh olmaġ idi çü ‘Adli'nüñ
Murādını virüben anı kām-kār itdüñ

In English

1. You took my peace and my patience and left me restless; with the passion for your hair you scattered my reason.

2. What we ate in separation from you was the poison of grief for you; by offering the wine of death you made it pleasant to drink. (The coming of death has made the poison of separation bearable.)

3. You increased your cruelties, and that is a favour; with this kindness you put this feeble one under a burden. ("Being under a burden" expresses both the weight of the cruelty and the debt of gratitude felt for the favour.)

4. Ever since you drew aside and kept away from me, by not coming to my side you have turned the tears of my eyes into a shoreless sea.

5. The knots of your hair, which you have made countless in the heart, could not be reckoned even if they were written down until the day of reckoning (the Last Day).

6. Ever since you became shah of the realm of the heart with this beauty, you have made me, your servant, sovereign over the land of grief for you.

7. Adlî's wish was to be the dust of your path; by granting his wish you made him attain his desire.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has seven couplets and is written in the müctes pattern "mefâ‘ilün fe‘ilâtün mefâ‘ilün fe‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "itdüñ" and the rhyme is the sound "-âr": bî-karâr, târmâr, hoş-güvâr, zîr-i bâr, bî-kenâr, bî-şümâr, şehriyâr, kâm-kâr. The refrain means "you made" or "you did"; in each couplet something the beloved has done to the lover is listed, and the ghazal proceeds like a catalogue of reproaches. According to Bayram's apparatus the ghazal is found in all five manuscripts (OR, T, M1, M2, İBB). M2 and İBB read "ṣunmaġla" for "ṣunmaḳla", T reads "ḫoş-vār" for "ḫoş-güvār", and OR reads "itdüñ" for "eyledüñ" and "yār" for "bār". In the edition it stands in the section of poems ending in the letter kef (Ḥarfü'l-kâf). To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The main theme of the ghazal is the lover's acceptance of the pains the beloved inflicts on him as so many favours. In the opening couplet "karâr" and "bî-karâr" come from the same root and are used side by side; the beloved has taken the lover's karâr, his peace and composure, and left him without it. In its dictionary sense "târmâr" means scattered, in disarray. The link between the disorder of the hair and the scattering of the mind is often made in divan poetry; here the word "hevâ" also expresses the passion for the hair.

In the second couplet poison and wine stand face to face. What the lover eats in separation is the poison of grief; when the beloved offers him the wine of death this poison becomes "hoş-güvâr". In its dictionary sense hoş-güvâr means easy to swallow, pleasant to drink. The couplet can be read in two ways: death makes the poison sweet because it ends the pain of separation; or even death, coming from the beloved's hand, seems to the lover as pleasant as wine. There is congruence of images (tenasüp) among poison, wine, eating and drinking.

The phrase "zîr-i bâr" in the third couplet gives the couplet two meanings. The beloved has increased the cruelties, and the poet counts this as a favour. The feeble lover has come both under the burden of cruelty and under an obligation of gratitude for this favour. The OR reading "zīr-i yār" instead places the lover under the beloved's command. The fourth couplet uses the word "kenâr" in three forms. In its dictionary sense kenâr means both shore and side, embrace. The beloved does not come to the lover's side (kenâr), draws aside, and the lover's tears turn into a "bî-kenâr", a shoreless sea. This play on words joins a hyperbole describing the abundance of tears.

In the fifth couplet "şümâr" and "bî-şümâr" come side by side. "Rûz-ı şümâr" in its dictionary sense is the day of counting, that is, the Last Day. The knots in the beloved's hair are countless in the heart; even if they were written down until the Last Day their reckoning would not be finished. In divan poetry the knot of hair is thought of as the bond that ties the lover's heart.

In the sixth couplet the image of shah and servant is set up openly. The beloved has become shah of the realm of the heart by virtue of beauty; the lover is the beloved's servant, but this servant has also been made şehriyâr, sovereign, of the "land of grief". The lover's sovereignty is over the country of pain. In the couplet the words shah, servant, province, land and şehriyâr come from the sphere of state and kingship, and there is congruence of images among them. Since the author of the poem really was a sovereign, his calling himself a servant and the beloved a shah strikes today's reader all the more; the couplet carries this irony one step further with the sovereignty over the land of grief.

The closing couplet repeats the word "murâd" (wish) in both lines. Adlî's only wish is to be the dust of the beloved's path, that is, he is content to fall to the lowest state. By granting this wish the beloved has made him "kâm-kâr", in its dictionary sense one who has attained his desire, fortunate. The subtle side of the couplet is that the lover's abasement is presented to him as happiness; the idea of counting pain as a favour, sustained since the opening couplet, is thus preserved in the last couplet as well.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, 2018, p. 103, poem no. 65 (manuscript information in the footnote on p. 103).

Online sources