Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Tīr-i āhum irişür eflāke eglenmez benüm
Eşk-i çeşmüm seyl olup her laḥẓa diñlenmez benüm
Dilde ġamzeñ zaḫmını tā ḥaşr olınca iy ṣanem
Tende her ḳıl dil olup söylerse diñlenmez benüm
Dem-be-dem derd-i dilüm söyler egerçi çeng ü ney
Āh kim sūz-ı derūnum bir dem añlanmaz benüm
Nice kim zencīr-i zülfüñ bendini dā’im çeker
Vālih ü dīvāne göñlüm hīç uṣlanmaz benüm
Ḥasret-i serv-i ḳadüñle olmadı bir gün daḫı
Yaşum ile yiryüzi her laḥẓa ṣulanmaz benüm
Dil-rübālar ṣayd olur dirler raḳīb ile velī
Çün perīdür dil-berüm it ile avlanmaz benüm
Ol ṣanem kelb-i raḳībüñ ürdügin diñler dirīġ
Veh ki feryād u fiġānum ‘Adli diñlenmez benüm

In English

1. The arrow of my sigh reaches the heavens and does not linger; the tears of my eye become a flood and never rest for a moment.

2. O idol of beauty, even if every hair on my body became a tongue and told until the Day of Judgement of the wound your glance opened in my heart, my words would not be heard. (With the reading "söylenmez" found in most manuscripts: … it still could not be fully told.)

3. The harp and the reed flute, it is true, voice the pain of my heart at every moment; but alas, the burning within me is not understood for a single moment. (The wailing of the instruments tells the lover's pain but cannot tell the fire within him.)

4. Although my heart always draws the bonds of the chain of your locks, my distraught and mad heart never comes to its senses. (Madmen are put in chains; here the chain is the beloved's ringleted hair.)

5. In longing for your cypress-like stature there has not been a single day on which the face of the earth was not watered at every moment by my tears.

6. They say that heart-ravishing beauties are hunted by means of the rival; but since my beloved is a fairy, she is not hunted with a dog. (The rival is likened to a dog; a fairy does not fall into a human snare.)

7. Alas, that idol listens to the barking of the rival's dog; woe, O Adlî, my cries and laments are not heard.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has seven couplets and is written in the remel metre "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". Its redif (refrain word) is "benüm" (my, of mine), and the rhyme is the sounds "-lenmez / -lanmaz" that come before it: eglenmez, diñlenmez, añlanmaz, uṣlanmaz, ṣulanmaz, avlanmaz. The rhyme word "diñlenmez" occurs three times: in the second line of the opening couplet, in the second couplet and in the final couplet. It is number 89 in the edition and is found in all five manuscripts (OR 23b-24a, T 26a-26b, M1 29b-30a, M2 23b, İBB 16b). According to Bayram's footnote, the ghazal is written in two separate places in the T manuscript, on folios 26a-26b and 29a-29b; the edition refers to the second copy as "T2". The manuscript variants are these: in the second couplet T2, M1 and M2 read "dil-berâ" (O beloved) instead of "iy ṣanem", and T, M1, M2 and İBB read "söylenmez" instead of "diñlenmez"; in the third couplet T2, M1 and M2 have "hîç" instead of "bir dem"; in the final couplet T2 writes "ürdügine", and M1 and M2 write "gûş ider" (lends an ear) instead of "diñler dirîġ" and "eglenmez" instead of "diñlenmez". It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The most striking feature of the ghazal is the use of the word "diñlenmez" in two different senses. In its dictionary sense "diñlenmek" means both to stop, to subside, to rest, and to be listened to, to be heard. In the opening couplet the lover's tears become a flood and never "diñlenmez", that is, never stop; in the final couplet the lover's cries "diñlenmez", that is, no one lends an ear to them. In the second couplet too the word means to be heard. The repetition of the same word as a rhyme with different meanings comes close to the figure of cinas (paronomasia). Since most manuscripts read "söylenmez" in the second couplet, this threefold repetition exists only in the OR reading that Bayram took as his basis.

In the opening couplet the sigh is likened to an arrow: the "tîr-i âh" rises up to the heavens and does not linger on the way. "Eglenmek", in its dictionary sense, means to linger, to stop and remain somewhere. In the second line the tears turn into a flood. There is a correspondence between the sigh that rises to the sky and the tears that flow to the earth. In the second couplet the word "dil" carries two meanings in two languages: in Persian heart, in Turkish the tongue in the mouth. The phrase "dilde" (in the heart) in the first line and "her kıl dil olup" (every hair becoming a tongue) in the second line set these two meanings against each other, and the couplet rests on cinas. Every hair becoming a tongue and speaking is a hyperbole (mübalağa) showing that the pain cannot be exhausted by telling.

In the third couplet the harp (çeng) and the reed flute (ney), two instruments of the gathering, tell of the lover's pain; but even with them the burning within the lover is not understood. The echo between "dem-be-dem" (at every moment) and "bir dem" (a single moment) binds the two lines of the couplet together. In the fourth couplet the beloved's hair is likened to a chain. In divan poetry the mad heart resembles a madman put in chains; the chain is the beloved's ringleted hair. That the heart, though it drags the chain, still does not come to its senses says that the chain does not cure the madness. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among chain, madman, vâlih (distraught) and coming to one's senses.

The fifth couplet speaks of longing for the cypress-statured beloved. The cypress grows by the water's edge; the lover's tears water the face of the earth at every moment. A hidden link is thus formed between the tears and the cypress. The sixth couplet turns to the image of the hunt. It is said that heart-ravishing beauties are "ṣayd", that is, hunted, by means of the rival; the rival here is the hunting dog. The lover, however, says that his own beloved is a fairy and that a fairy cannot be reached with a dog. There is a congruence of images among hunt, dog and hunting, and the likening of the rival to a dog adds a barb to the couplet.

The final couplet continues the image of the dog from the sixth couplet. The beloved listens to the barking of the rival's dog and does not listen to the lover's cries. The contrast between barking and lament, and the use of the verb "to listen" with two different subjects in the two lines, carry the couplet. The readings "gûş ider" and "eglenmez" in M1 and M2 keep the meaning; but with "eglenmez" the rhyme of the final couplet would repeat the rhyme of the opening couplet.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018, p. 127, poem no. 89 (manuscript information in the footnote on p. 127). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr