Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Yüzüñ ayını ḳoyup ben güne nāẓır degülem
Naẓar itmege senüñ ġayruña ḳādir degülem
Gözlerüñ tīġ çeker ḳaṣdı bu kim cānum ala
Ṣanemā ivme ki ben ṣanma ki ḥāżır degülem
Nergisüñ siḥriyile dār-ı cihān ṭoldı fiten
Var daḫı'y şūh-ı cihān dime ki sāḥir degülem
Mey ü maḥbūb sevüp cān virürem gerçi raḳīb
Hele ben sencileyin müfsid ü kāfir degülem
Gerçi yaġmur gibi yaġdurdı ġamuñ başuma ṭaş
Ḥaḳ bilür geçmedi dem ben aña şākir degülem
Ġamuña cān virüben ġāyet ucuz avlamışam
Ṣatun almaḳda dimen ben daḫı tācir degülem
‘Adli'ye derd ü ġamuñ oldı çün ol demde naṣīb
Ḫāk olup sine girem terk ide āḫir degülem

In English

1. I am not one to leave the moon of your face and gaze at the sun; I have not the strength to look at anyone but you.

2. Your eyes draw the sword, their aim is to take my life; O idol of beauty, do not hurry, but do not think that I am not ready.

3. Through the sorcery of your narcissus eye the abode of the world has filled with strife; O coquette of the world, go on then, say "I am no sorceress".

4. O rival, it is true that I love wine and the beautiful and give my life for them; but at least I am not a mischief-maker and an infidel like you.

5. Your grief, it is true, has rained stones upon my head like rain; God knows that not a moment has passed without my giving thanks for it.

6. Giving my life to your grief, I have caught it very cheaply; in buying and selling I will not say "I am no merchant either". (Giving one's life and getting grief in return seems to the lover a profitable bargain; he counts himself a merchant who has struck a good deal.)

7. Since the pain and grief of you fell to Adlî's lot at that moment, even if I become dust and enter the grave, I am not one to give it up in the end. (With the reading "olmadı" in M1 and M2, the first line means "since it did not fall to his lot".)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has seven couplets and is written in the remel metre "fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilün". Its redif (refrain word) is "degülem" (I am not), and the rhyme is the sound "-ir": nâzır, kâdir, hâzır, sâhir, kâfir, şâkir, tâcir, âhir. It is number 91 in the edition and is found in all five manuscripts (OR 24a, T 29b-30a, M1 30a-30b, M2 24a, İBB 16b), although the fifth couplet is missing in T. The manuscript variants are these: in the second couplet OR reads "gözlerüm" (my eyes) instead of "gözlerüñ" (your eyes); in the fourth couplet İBB has "diye" instead of "rakîb"; in the sixth couplet T, M1 and M2 write "ṣatup" instead of "ṣatun", and T writes "dimez" instead of "dimen"; in the final couplet M1 reads "olmadı çün" instead of "oldı çün", and M2 "olmadı" instead of "oldı". It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is a series of "I am not"s. In every couplet the lover denies something about himself, and the denial takes on a different sense from couplet to couplet: he is not one to gaze at the sun, not one who is unready, not a mischief-maker and infidel, not one who fails to give thanks, not one to give up the pain. In some couplets the denial pushes away something negative; in others, through a double negative, it turns into a positive claim.

In the opening couplet the beloved's face is likened to the moon and preferred to the sun. "Nâzır", in its dictionary sense, means one who looks, who watches; "nazar" means a look. "Nâzır" and "nazar" come from the same root and set up the figure of iştikak (use of words from a common root) between the two lines. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between moon and sun. In the second couplet the eyes turn into an executioner drawing a sword. The lover tells the beloved not to hurry, but immediately adds "do not think I am not ready"; that is, he is ready for death. The words "ṣanemâ" (O idol) and "ṣanma" (do not think) are close in sound and stand side by side within the line. The reading "gözlerüm" in OR suggests that the one drawing the sword is the lover's own eyes, but it fits less well with the rest of the couplet.

In the third couplet "nergis" is the eye; in divan poetry the eye is likened to the narcissus flower because of its shape and its languid look. The sorcery of the eye has filled the world with strife. The lover teases the beloved, "go on then, say you are no sorceress"; here the words "I am not" are a denial put into the beloved's mouth, and the lover says that this denial is in vain. There is a congruence of images among sorcery, strife and sorceress.

The fourth couplet turns to the rival. The lover admits that he loves wine and the beautiful and gives his life for them; these count as faults by the measure of religious law. But he is not, like the rival, a "müfsid", in its dictionary sense one who stirs up mischief, a troublemaker, nor an infidel. Admitting one's own fault while pointing out the rival's greater fault adds a barb to the couplet. In İBB's reading "diye" the rival is not addressed; the words turn into a general defence.

In the fifth couplet the beloved's grief rains stones upon the lover's head like rain; there is a simile between rain and stones, and antithesis between complaint and thanksgiving. The phrasing of the second line, "not a moment passed in which I was not thankful for it", cancels one negative with another: the lover has given thanks at every moment. The sixth couplet is built in the language of trade. The lover has given his life and taken the beloved's grief in exchange, and has found it very cheap. "Dimen" is the negative aorist form meaning "I will not say" in Old Anatolian Turkish; the lover does not say "I am no merchant either", that is, he says that he understands buying and selling. There is a congruence of images among selling, buying, cheap and merchant. To give the most precious thing, one's life, for grief and count it a profit is the irony of the couplet.

The final couplet says that the pain was given to the lover as his "portion". The couplet does not explain which moment is meant by "ol demde" (at that moment). "Sin", in its dictionary sense, means grave; "hâk olup sine girmek" expresses dying and mingling with the earth. Even if he dies, the lover will not give up this pain. There is a congruence of images between dust and grave. The reading "olmadı" in M1 and M2 weakens the logic of the couplet, because saying that one will not give up a pain that was not one's portion does not agree with the ghazal as a whole.

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018, p. 129, poem no. 91 (manuscript information in the footnote on p. 129). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr