Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mef‘ūlü fā‘ilātü mefā‘īlü fā‘ilün

Hicr-i ateşle ola mı bir āteş-i Ceḥīm
Hicrān viṣāle olsa mübeddel zihī na‘īm
Baḥr-ı vücūd içinde bulınmaz aña bedel
‘Ālem tamām olsa ṣadef bir dür-i yetīm
Pür- ‘ıṭr ola meşām-ı cihān ḫoş-hevāyile
Zülfüñ ḳoḫusın alsa seḥergeh dem-i nesīm
Boynın buralı ḫaṭṭ-ı ġubāruñ benefşenüñ
Düşdi ‘aṣāya ‘illet ile nergis-i saḳīm
Ben ḳāni‘am yüzüñe ıraḳdan naẓar ḳılam
Vaṣluñ hevāsın eylerimiş degme bir le’īm
Derd ile yāre yüzüñi zer eylemekligün
Hīç nef‘i yoḳ durur eger olmasa elde sīm
Ḫâk-i derinde olmaz idi itler ile bir
‘Adlī o şâha olmasa ger bende-i ḳadīm

In English

1. Can the fire of Hell be equal to the fire of separation? If separation were changed into union, what a blessing (the bliss of Paradise) it would be.

2. In the sea of existence nothing can be found to take his (the beloved's) place; were the whole world an oyster shell, he would be the single, peerless pearl within it.

3. If the breeze that blows at dawn caught the scent of your lock, the nostrils of the world would be filled through and through with fragrance by that sweet air.

4. Ever since the dust-coloured down (hatt) on your face bent the neck of the violet, the sick narcissus too has been reduced to a walking stick by its ailment. The couplet can be read in two ways: the narcissus's sickness may be tied to the violet's defeat, or the two lines may describe separately two flowers that bow before the beloved's beauty.

5. I am content to gaze at your face from afar; it seems that every base person who comes along desires union with you.

6. If there is no silver (money) in hand, there is no use at all in turning one's face golden (yellow) with pain for the beloved.

7. Had Adlî not been an old servant of that shah (the beloved), he would not be counted one with the dogs in the dust of his door (he has earned the right to lie at that door with the dogs through his long servitude).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The ghazal (gazel) has seven couplets and is written in the muzâri metre "mef‘ûlü fâ‘ilâtü mefâ‘îlü fâ‘ilün". It has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the sound "-îm": Cehîm, na‘îm, yetîm, nesîm, sakîm, le’îm, sîm, kadîm. It is number 96 in Bayram's edition and is found in all five manuscripts. The variants recorded in the edition are these: in the second couplet OR reads "bahr u cevr" instead of "bahr-ı vücûd" (the sea of existence), and in the third couplet "kohusını" instead of "kohusın"; in the sixth couplet OR and İBB read "eylemek göñül" (O heart, making …) instead of "eylemekligün"; in the closing couplet M2 reads "bendelerle yâr" (friend with the servants) instead of "itler ile bir", and OR reads "yir" instead of "bir". In the T manuscript the second lines of the fifth and sixth couplets have changed places. "Pür- ‘ıtr" at the beginning of the third couplet is printed in the edition with a space after the hyphen and has been left so in the text. It is not known to whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet sets Paradise and Hell against each other. "Cehîm", in its dictionary sense, is one of the names of Hell; "na‘îm" means blessing, abundance, and is mentioned together with Paradise. For the lover the fire of separation is worse even than the fire of Hell; were separation to turn into union, it would be like the bliss of Paradise. The antithesis between Cehîm and na‘îm, between separation (hicran) and union (visal), places the couplet between two extremes. The repetition of the word "hicr" (separation) in both lines makes separation the first word of the ghazal.

In the second couplet the world is likened to an oyster shell and the beloved to the single pearl within it. "Dürr-i yetîm", in its dictionary sense, is a large pearl that is single and without a match; the word "yetîm" (orphan) here carries the sense of peerlessness. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among "bahr" (sea), "sadef" (oyster shell) and "dür" (pearl). The third couplet ties the dawn breeze (nesîm) to the beloved's lock: if the breeze took up the scent of the lock and spread it over the world, the whole universe would be filled with fragrance. The fourth couplet is a tableau of flowers. The fine down on the beloved's face has bent the neck of the violet, and the narcissus has fallen sick and been reduced to a walking stick. The drooping posture of the violet and the slender stem of the narcissus are the basis of these comparisons; the words "illet" (ailment), "sakîm" (sick) and "asâ" (walking stick) form a congruence of images around sickness.

The fifth and sixth couplets change the ghazal's tone. The lover is content to gaze from afar and says that those who desire union are "değme bir le’îm", that is, base people chosen at random. The sixth couplet, by contrast, is an almost sardonic observation: growing pale from pain, that is, turning one's face the colour of "zer" (gold), is of no use if there is no "sîm" (silver) in hand. There is a congruence of images between "zer" and "sîm". "Sîm", in its dictionary sense, means silver, and figuratively money; since silver is also used for the beloved's white skin, the couplet can also be read as "if the beloved is not in hand".

The closing couplet (makta) carries a situation often found in Adlî's poems. The lover counts himself one with the dogs at the beloved's door, but says that he has been able to earn even this place only because he is an old servant of "that shah", that is, of the beloved. The fact that the poet who calls the beloved shah and himself servant was in reality a sovereign loads the humble language of the couplet with a second meaning for the reader. There is antithesis between "şâh" and "bende" (servant).

Bibliography

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018, p. 134, poem no. 96 (manuscript information in the footnote on the same page). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr