Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün fe‘ūlün

Göñül ol çeşmi sāḥirden ḥaẕer ḳıl
Ne mekr ile göñül alur naẓar ḳıl
Gelürse sīneñe şemşīr-i tīri
Çeker pergālesini mā-ḥażar ḳıl
Nis̱ār içün ḫayāli ayaġına
Gözüñ dürcini pür-dürr ü güher ḳıl
Eger ṣabruñ yoġ ise ‘ışḳ içinde
Revān kūyına dil-dāruñ sefer ḳıl
Eger ṣāfī-naẓar olmaḳ dilerseñ
Ayaġı topraġın nūr-ı baṣar ḳıl
Bülend eyle boyı vaṣfını ‘Adlī
Dehānında sözüñi muḫtaṣar ḳıl
Leb-i la‘lini kim emsem dir ise
İlāhi dilin aġzında şeker ḳıl

In English

1. Heart, beware of that sorcerous eye; look with what guile it steals hearts.

2. If the beloved's sword and arrow come to your breast, offer the piece they tear out (of your heart) as a ready dish of hospitality. (The couplet is difficult. In their dictionary sense "pergâle" means a piece, a cut, and "mâ-hazar" whatever is at hand, the food set before a guest. The reading "şemşîri mihmân" in manuscript M2, that is "his sword as a guest", suggests that the couplet is built on the image of receiving a guest.)

3. To scatter as an offering at the feet of his image, fill the jewel case of your eye with pearls and gems. (The tears are likened to pearls, the eye to a jewel case.)

4. If you have no patience in love, rise at once and travel to the quarter of the beloved.

5. If you wish to have a pure gaze, make the dust of his feet the light of your eyes. (The dust of the beloved's feet is applied to the eye like kohl.)

6. Adlî, keep your words lofty when you describe his stature; when it comes to his mouth, cut your words short. (Since the stature is tall its description must be long; since the mouth is small, speech about it must be short.)

7. Whoever says he wishes to kiss his ruby lip, O God, make his tongue sugar in his mouth. (The couplet can be understood this way: let the tongue that speaks of that lip be sweetened like sugar by the lip's taste.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has seven couplets and is written in the hezec metre "mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün fe‘ûlün". The redif (refrain word) is "kıl" (make, do), and the rhyme is the sound "-er": hazer, nazar, mâ-hazar, güher, sefer, basar, muhtasar, şeker. Since every couplet ends with the imperative "kıl", the ghazal reads from beginning to end like a string of counsels; the poet addresses his heart in the first couplet and himself in the sixth. In Bayram's edition it is number 72 and it is found in five manuscripts (OR, T, M1, M2, İBB), although the third couplet is missing in İBB. The variants are concentrated in the second couplet: M2 reads "şemşîri mihmân" instead of "şemşîr-i tîri", İBB "şemşîr ü tîri", and M1 only "şemşîr". M1 and M2 have "sâhib-nazar" instead of "sâfî-nazar", and İBB "yolı" instead of "boyı". The pen name (mahlas) is not in the last couplet but in the sixth; the ghazal continues for one more couplet after it. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the opening couplet the beloved's eye is "sâhir", that is, a sorcerer. In divan poetry the eye is imagined as a being that enchants with its glance and steals hearts by guile; the poet tells his heart to beware of this eye, but at the same time to watch how it captures hearts. The opposition between "hazer kıl" (beware) and "nazar kıl" (look) is the real subtlety of the couplet: while warning, it also invites one to look.

The second couplet is the most obscure place in the ghazal, and the divergence of the manuscripts here reflects that difficulty. Sword and arrow are the familiar counterparts of the beloved's eyebrow and eyelashes. If the M2 reading "his sword as a guest" is taken into account, the sword that comes to the breast is a guest, and the lover must offer it, as "mâ-hazar", a dish of whatever is at hand, the piece that the sword tears from his heart. This reading would be a hyperbole that turns wounding into hospitality; in the other manuscripts this image of the guest does not appear openly.

The word "nisâr" in the third couplet means, in its dictionary sense, the coins and jewels scattered at the feet of people at weddings and at the arrival of the great. When the beloved's image comes, the lover must fill the "dürc", the jewel case, of his eye with pearls and gems to scatter at its feet. The pearls are tears; the words nisâr, dür, dürc and güher form a congruence of images (tenasüp). In the fifth couplet the same image of the feet continues, this time with dust: the dust of the beloved's feet is applied to the eye like kohl and becomes the light of the eye. "Sâfî-nazar" (of pure gaze) and "nûr-ı basar" (light of the eye) complete each other.

In the pen-name couplet stature and mouth are set against each other. "Bülend" means high, tall; "muhtasar" short, concise. Since the beloved's stature is tall, its description must be kept long, and since the mouth is small, speech about it must be cut short. There is antithesis between the two lines and a congruence of images (tenasüp) between speech and mouth. In the final couplet the lip is likened to the ruby (la‘l), and sugar is asked for the tongue of whoever wishes to kiss it. The taste of the lip and sugar are often joined in divan poetry; here the sugar is the sweetness that the tongue speaking of the beloved will gain.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018, p. 110, poem no. 72 (manuscript information in the footnote on p. 110). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr