Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ṣaçlaruñ bendine düşüp artalı sevdālarum
Şehr içi pürdür cemālüñ şevḳile ġavġālarum
Ebr-i nīsān gerçi kim deryāya lü’lü’-baḫşdur
‘Āleme lü’lü’ nis̱ār eyler benüm deryālarum
Dirimiş dil-ber yüzüm gülzārına ḳarşu hezār
Gülşen-i kūyumda var biñ bülbül-i gūyālarum
Giceden gündüzlerin farḳ eylemezler şevḳden
Bend-i zülfümde giriftār olalı şeydālarum
La‘l-i nābuñ yādına düşdüm şarāba şöyle kim
Meykedeyle dir olupdur melce’ ü me’vālarum
Bu muḥaḳḳaḳdur ḫaṭ-ı dil-dār vaṣfın ideli
Defter-i ‘ālem ṭolupdur ‘Adliyā inşālarum

In English

1. Ever since my passions grew as I fell into the bonds of your hair, the whole city has been full of the uproar I raise in longing for your beauty.

2. The April cloud, it is true, bestows pearls upon the sea, but my seas (my eyes) scatter pearls over the whole world. (Tears are likened to pearls; the lover's eyes are more generous than the April cloud.)

3. The beloved, it is said, declares: "Before the rose garden of my face there are a thousand nightingales; in the rose garden of my street I have a thousand singing nightingales." (The nightingales are the beloved's lovers.)

4. (The beloved's words continue:) "Ever since my madmen were caught in the bonds of my locks, they can no longer tell night from day for longing." (The black locks resemble night, the bright face day; the lovers have lost themselves between the two.)

5. For the memory of your pure ruby lip I have given myself to wine so wholly that the tavern and the monastery have become my refuge and my shelter.

6. This much is certain, O Adlî: since I began to describe the down on the beloved's cheek, the ledger of the world has filled with my compositions.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has six couplets and is written in the remel metre "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is the suffixes "-larum" (my …s); the rhyme is the sound "-â" that comes before these suffixes: sevdâ, gavgâ, deryâ, gûyâ, şeydâ, me’vâ, inşâ. It is number 88 in the edition and is found in all five manuscripts (OR 21b, T 29a, M1 29b, M2 23a, İBB 15a), although the fourth couplet is missing in İBB. In the third couplet İBB reads "şeydâlarum" instead of "gûyâlarum", that is, it makes the rhyme word of the third and fourth couplets the same. In the fifth couplet OR has "meykedelerde" (in the taverns) instead of "meykedeyle dir" (the tavern and the monastery). It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Two voices are heard in the ghazal. In the first two and the last two couplets the speaker is the lover; the third couplet, however, begins a quotation from the beloved's mouth with the words "dirimiş dil-ber", "the beloved, it is said, declares". The phrase "bend-i zülfüm" (the bonds of my locks) in the fourth couplet also belongs to the beloved, because in divan poetry the locks (zülf) are the beloved's hair; the fourth couplet is therefore read as a continuation of the beloved's words. In this way the suffix "-larum" (my …s) in the redif changes its owner in the middle of the ghazal: at the beginning it names the lover's passions and seas, in the middle the beloved's nightingales and madmen.

In the opening couplet the word "sevdâ" carries two meanings at once. In its dictionary sense it means both passionate love and, in old medicine, black bile and the madness born of it; it comes from the Arabic root for "black". The lover's passion grows as he falls into the bonds of the beloved's black hair; there is a subtle congruence of images (tenasüp) between the blackness of the hair and the blackness of "sevdâ". "Gavgâ", in its dictionary sense, means uproar, tumult, quarrel: the lover's passion fills the city with his cries.

The second couplet rests on the idea that the April cloud bestows pearls on the sea; the couplet states this idea itself. The lover compares it with his own eyes: the April cloud gives pearls only to the sea, while the lover's "seas", that is, his eyes full of tears, scatter pearls over the whole world. This is a teşbih-i tafdîl (a simile in which the thing compared is declared superior); the lover's eyes are ranked above the April cloud to which they are compared. There is a congruence of images among cloud, sea and pearl.

In the third couplet the word "hezâr" is a double entendre (tevriye). In its dictionary sense it means both "thousand" and "nightingale". The beloved says that there are "hezâr" before the rose garden of her face; the phrase "biñ bülbül" (a thousand nightingales) in the second line brings out both meanings of the word. There is a congruence of images among rose garden, nightingale and garden. In the fourth couplet the beloved's "şeydâ"s, in its dictionary sense her lovers driven mad by love, can no longer tell night from day. In divan poetry the locks are likened to night and the face to day; that those captured by the locks cannot tell night from day rests on this likening, and there is antithesis between night and day.

In the fifth couplet the lover speaks again. The beloved's "la‘l-i nâb", her pure ruby lip, has driven him to wine; lip and wine resemble each other because of their redness. "Dir", in its dictionary sense, is "deyr", a monastery; "melce’" and "me’vâ" mean refuge, shelter. That the tavern and the monastery become his refuge sets the lover apart from the world of the ascetics.

The final couplet closes with the image of writing. "Hatt", in its dictionary sense, means both writing and the fine down that newly appears on the face. Adlî says that since he began to praise the beloved's "hatt", the ledger of the world has filled with his "inşâ"s; "inşâ", in its dictionary sense, means writing, composing words. The congruence of images among hatt, ledger and inşâ supports the double entendre in the word "hatt".

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018, p. 126, poem no. 88 (manuscript information in the footnote on p. 126). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr