Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Beñlerüne bende fülfül yüzüñe gülzār ḳul
Sünbülüñe boynı baġlu nāfe-i Tātār ḳul
Gül gül-āb olur ḥayādan seyr-i gülzār eyleseñ
Nāz ile ṣalınsañ olur serv-i ḫoş-reftār ḳul
Leblerüñe la‘l ḳulaġı delik bir bendedür
Dişlerüñ naẓmına olur lū’lu’-yı şehvār ḳul
Kākülüñ bendinde oldılar ulü'l-el-bāb ḳayd
Gözlerüñ siḥrine oldılar ulü'l-ebs̱ār ḳul
Az bulınur bu cihānda aña senüñ gibi şāh
‘Adli gibi saña līkin bulınur bisyār ḳul

In English

1. Black pepper is a servant to your moles, the rose garden a slave to your face; to your hyacinth (your hair) the musk pod of Tatary is a slave with a bound neck.

2. If you stroll through the rose garden, the rose turns to rosewater for shame (sweats and melts away); if you sway with coquetry, the graceful-walking cypress becomes your slave.

3. The ruby (la‘l) is a slave with a pierced ear to your lips; the royal pearl becomes a slave to the string of your teeth.

4. The possessors of understanding became captives in the bonds of your forelock; the possessors of sight became slaves to the magic of your eyes.

5. A shah like you is rarely found in this world; but slaves like Adlî you will find in plenty.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has five couplets and is written in the remel metre "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "kul", slave; the rhyme is the sound "-âr": gülzâr, Tâtâr, hoş-reftâr, şehvâr, ebsâr, bisyâr. Every couplet of the ghazal says that something is a slave to the beloved, and the final couplet ties this chain to the poet himself. In Bayram's edition it is number 81 and it is found in all five manuscripts (OR, T, M1, M2, İBB). The only variant recorded in the edition is in the final couplet: the word "bu" is missing in T and M1. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal takes the beloved's beauty part by part and sets against each part something that is its slave. In the opening couplet the moles are likened to black pepper (fülfül), the face to a rose garden, the hair to hyacinth. The blackness and smallness of the moles connect them with peppercorns, and the scent of the hair with the musk pod of Tatary (nâfe-i Tâtâr); in its dictionary sense nâfe is the fragrant musk pod taken from the musk deer. The idiom "boynu bağlı", "with a bound neck", means both bound by the neck like a captive and submissive, helpless. All these comparisons are similes (teşbih), but by making the object of comparison the slave of the thing compared, the poet shows the beloved's superiority.

In the second couplet the rose, when the beloved strolls through the garden, turns to "gül-âb" for shame. Gülâb is rosewater; the sweating of a person who is ashamed is also spoken of as turning to water. The rose's turning into rosewater is thus both a real transformation and an expression of shame. In the same line the words "gül", "gül-âb" and "gülzâr" follow one another; the repetition of sound gives the couplet a harmony. The cypress, too, becomes a slave before the gait of the beloved swaying with coquetry.

The third couplet is built on precious stones. La‘l is a red gemstone and in divan poetry the counterpart of the lip. The idiom "kulağı delik", "pierced-eared", means in its dictionary sense a slave wearing an earring, a person bound to someone in loyalty; when one considers that the ruby is also pierced in order to be strung, the idiom finds its place in the couplet in two ways. The teeth are likened to pearls. "Nazm", in its dictionary sense, means both stringing things such as pearls on a thread and poetry; the "nazm" of the teeth can be read both as the row of teeth and as a poetic arrangement. "Lü’lü’-i şehvâr" is a large pearl fit for kings. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among ruby, pearl, lip and teeth.

In the fourth couplet two Arabic expressions are set against each other: "ulü'l-elbâb" means in its dictionary sense the possessors of understanding, and "ulü'l-ebsâr" the possessors of sight and insight; both are expressions found in the Qur'an. The poet says that the wisest are bound to the beloved's forelock and the most clear-sighted are slaves to the magic of the eyes. "Bend" is both a bond and captivity, "kayd" both a tie and a chain; "sihr" is magic. Placing expressions taken from the Qur'an in a love couplet is a usage close to the figure of quotation called iktibas. Mind and eye, bond and magic tie the two lines of the couplet together.

The final couplet reverses the ghazal's chain of slaves. The beloved is a shah rarely found in this world, while Adlî is one of the slaves the beloved can find in abundance. When one considers that the author of the poem was a sultan sitting on the Ottoman throne, the couplet carries an open irony: the real shah speaks of himself as an ordinary slave, easily found, and gives the shahdom to the beloved. The way the redif "kul" is laid throughout the ghazal on everything from pepper to cypress, from pearl to the possessors of understanding, prepares the ground for the poet, in the final couplet, to add his own servitude to the end of this long series.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018, p. 119, poem no. 81 (manuscript information in the footnote on p. 119). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr