Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Göreli ol ṣanemüñ ḳaşlarını yāy gözüm
Ḳıldı cevr oḳlarına sīne siper vāy gözüm
Dimedüm mi saña ben baḳma aña hāy gözüm
Gözüm eyvāy gözüm vay gözüm eyvāy gözüm
Tīr-i ġamzeñ ṣanemā gözlerüme olalı ṭūş
Gözlerüm yaş aḳıdup baḥr oluban eyledi cūş
Seyl-i eşküm dökilüp gözlerümi eyledi boş
Gözüm eyvāy gözüm vay gözüm eyvāy gözüm
Tūtiyā olmayalı gözlerüme gerd-i rehüñ
Görmedi iki gözüm pertevini mihr ü mehüñ
İy gözüm bunca belā derd ile neyki günehüñ
Gözüm eyvāy gözüm vay gözüm eyvāy gözüm
Yaşlarum sen gideli seyl olup iy cān dökilür
Dürr ü yāḳūt çıḳar la‘l ile mercān dökilür
Ġamzeler zaḫmıyile gözlerüme ḳan dökilür
Gözüm eyvāy gözüm vay gözüm eyvāy gözüm
Dā’imā cevr ḳılur ben ḳulına şāh n'idem
Şeb-i hicrinde ṭulū‘ eylemez ol māh n'idem
Gözlerüm görmez ise gün yüzini āh n'idem
Gözüm eyvāy gözüm vay gözüm eyvāy gözüm
Elüm irmez nideyin ḥasret ile yāre dirīġ
Dil düşüp zülfi ḫamıyla yürür āvāre dirīġ
Gözlerüm derdine olmaz bilürem çāre dirīġ
Gözüm eyvāy gözüm vay gözüm eyvāy gözüm
Bir perī-zāde vü meh-rū ṣanem ü tāze cüvān
İdeli gün yüzini perde-i zülfinde nihān
‘Adli'nüñ gözlerine oldı ḳarañu dü cihān
Gözüm eyvāy gözüm vay gözüm eyvāy gözüm

In English

1. Ever since my eye saw that idol's eyebrows as a bow, it has made my breast a shield for the arrows of cruelty, alas my eye. Did I not tell you, "Do not look at it," o my eye? My eye, alas my eye, woe my eye, alas my eye. (Sanem literally means idol; in divan poetry it is the beautiful beloved, adored as if worshipped. The arched eyebrow is likened to a bow, glances to arrows.)

2. O beauty, ever since the arrow of your glance struck my eyes, my eyes have shed tears, turned into a sea and surged. The flood of my tears burst forth and left my eyes empty. My eye, alas my eye, woe my eye, alas my eye. ("Left my eyes empty" can be read in two ways: no tears were left in them, or they were left unable to see.)

3. Since the dust of your path ceased to be collyrium for my eyes, my two eyes have seen the light of neither sun nor moon. O my eye, what is your sin, that you suffer so much affliction and pain? My eye, alas my eye, woe my eye, alas my eye. (Tûtiyâ literally means the collyrium applied to the eyes and considered a cure for them; the lover longs to use the dust of the road the beloved walks on as such a salve.)

4. O my soul, since you left, my tears pour down in a flood; pearls and rubies come from my eyes, garnets and coral spill out. From the wound of your glances, blood pours into my eyes. My eye, alas my eye, woe my eye, alas my eye. (White tears are likened to pearls, bloody tears to rubies, garnets and coral.)

5. The shah always treats me, his servant, cruelly; what am I to do? On the night of separation that moon does not rise; what am I to do? If my eyes do not see that sun-like face, ah, what am I to do? My eye, alas my eye, woe my eye, alas my eye.

6. My hand cannot reach the beloved; what am I to do with this longing, alas. The heart has fallen into the curl of the beloved's lock and wanders aimlessly, alas. I know there is no cure for the pain of my eyes, alas. My eye, alas my eye, woe my eye, alas my eye.

7. Since that fairy-born, moon-faced, idol-like fresh youth hid that sun-like face behind the veil of the lock, both worlds have gone dark in Adlî's eyes. My eye, alas my eye, woe my eye, alas my eye.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is the only murabba (quatrain stanza poem) in Adlî's divan. The murabba is a type of musammat built from four-line stanzas; this poem has seven stanzas and is written in the remel metre "fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilün". In each stanza the first three lines rhyme with one another, while the fourth is the refrain "Gözüm eyvây gözüm vay gözüm eyvây gözüm", repeated unchanged in every stanza. In the first stanza the refrain also rhymes with the other lines (yây gözüm, vây gözüm, hây gözüm, eyvây gözüm); in the following stanzas the rhymes change: tûş, cûş, boş; rehüñ, mehüñ, günehüñ; with the redifs (refrain words) "dökilür", "n'idem" and "dirîġ", cân-mercân-kan, şâh-mâh-âh, yâre-âvâre-çâre; and in the last stanza cüvân, nihân, cihân. The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi article on the musammat calls this arrangement, in which the same line is repeated at the end of each stanza, "mütekerrir". According to the same article, this metre and the "fâ‘ilâtün" metre were the ones most often chosen for the murabba, and writing murabbas became widespread in Turkish poetry in the sixteenth century; given the poet's death in 1512, Adlî's murabba was written at the beginning of that spread or before it. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last stanza.

In Bayram's edition it is number 145 and stands after the ghazals under the heading "Murabba‘". According to the edition's footnote it is found in all five manuscripts (OR 20b-21a, T 27b-28a, M1 28a-28b, M2 22a-22b, İBB 14a-14b); Bayram's descriptions of the manuscripts, which count "1 murabba" for each, confirm this. The footnote was printed in the edition by mistake under the number "140". The variants are minor: in manuscript T the last word of the refrain is "vây"; in the second stanza M1 and M2 read "yaşı akup" instead of "yaş akıdup"; in the third stanza OR lacks the word "belâ"; in T the third line of the fifth stanza is replaced by a repetition of the third line of the fourth stanza; in the last stanza OR, M1 and M2 read "mihr ü" instead of "meh-rû" (moon-faced). Bayram gives this murabba with all its stanzas in the examples section of the Adlî entry in TEİS. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The whole poem is a reproach addressed to the eye. The lover sees his own eye as responsible for what has befallen him: in the first stanza he scolds it, "Did I not tell you not to look at it?", and in the third he pities it, "what is your sin, with so much affliction?" The eye is at once the culprit and the organ that suffers most; it is the eye that weeps, into which blood pours, and which cannot see the light. The fourfold repetition of "gözüm" (my eye) in the refrain gives this reproach the tone of a lament. Such dense use of repetition (tekrir) also suits the song-like structure of the musammat.

The first two stanzas are built on images of battle. The eyebrow is a bow, the glance (gamze) an arrow, and the breast has been made a shield against these arrows; the words bow, arrow, shield and tîr form a congruence of images (tenasüp). In the second and fourth stanzas tears turn, by hyperbole, into a sea and a flood. In the fourth stanza pearl, ruby, garnet and coral are named together; white tears are likened to pearls, bloody tears to red stones. In the third stanza the wish to use the dust of the beloved's path as collyrium is a well-known motif of divan poetry; when this dust is not applied, the eye can see neither sun nor moon.

In the fifth stanza the beloved is called "shah" and the lover "servant" (kul): "Dâ'imâ cevr kılur ben kulına şâh". This arrangement, common in divan poetry, draws particular attention when the poet is a ruler; the voice complaining that the shah treats his servant cruelly is in reality the voice of a prince or a sultan. Images of moon and sun also appear in this stanza: the beloved is a moon that does not rise on the night of separation, and the face is a sun. In the last stanza this sun hides behind the veil of the lock, and both worlds go dark in Adlî's eyes. The contrast (tezat) of sun and night, light and darkness, closes the poem's theme of eye and light. The redif "dirîġ" (alas) in the sixth stanza and the redif "n'idem" (what am I to do) in the fifth reinforce helplessness through repetition.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018, p. 183, poem no. 145 (manuscript information in the footnote on the same page; descriptions of the manuscripts pp. 30-32). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Academic studies

Books

Online sources