Original Persian Text

Metre: Mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün (hezec)

Zihī ḳadd-i dil-ārā-yi tu reşk-i serv-i bustānī
Yekī biḫrām k’ez-ḫūbān ḫarāc-i ḥusn bistānī
Eger Mānī bidīdī rūy-i yār-i mā şodī vālih
Ez-īn ṣūret ki yektā naḳş-i kilk-i ṣun‘-i Yezdānī
Çi mī rāned raḳīb ez-kūy-i tū peyveste ‘āşiḳrā
Bütā fermān ez-ān-i tust eger ḫvānī veger rānī
Eger ḫvāhed zi-men cān la‘l-i nūşīneş zi-rūy-i mihr
Hemān laḥẓa men-i bī-dil revān bidhem be-āsānī
Cihānī geşte mihmānend ber-ḫvān-i viṣāl-i t[ū]
Çirā ber-ḫvān-i vaṣl-i ḫvīş ‘Adlīrā nemī ḫvānī

In English

1. How fine, your heart-adorning stature makes the cypress of the garden envious; walk once with a sway and take the tribute of beauty from the beauties. ("Harâc" means in its dictionary sense the tax a ruler takes from subject lands. The beloved is like the ruler of the realm of beauty, and the other beauties like subjects paying tribute.)

2. Had Mânî seen the face of our beloved, he would have stood amazed before this form, the matchless design of the pen of the Creator's art. (Mânî is the figure remembered in divan poetry for his painting. "Sûret" means in its dictionary sense both face, form and picture. Başpınar translates the line as an address, "O Mânî"; the construction "eger... bidîdî" in the line can also be read as "had he seen".)

3. Why does the rival keep driving the lover from your quarter? O idol-like beauty, the command is yours; summon him or drive him away, as you will.

4. If those sweet lips of the beloved should ask me for my soul with kindness, I who have lost my heart would give my soul easily, at once, that very moment.

5. The whole world has become a guest at the table of union with you; why do you not summon Adlî to your own table of union? ("Hvân" means in its dictionary sense a table spread with food, and "hvânî" means "you summon".)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is Adlî's thirteenth Persian ghazal. It has five couplets and is written in the hezec metre "mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün mefâ‘îlün". The ghazal has no separate redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the sound "-ânî": bustânî, bistânî, Yezdânî, rânî, âsânî and hvânî. The ghazal is number 166 in Bayram's 2008 edition. According to the table in Bayram's 2018 edition it is found in two manuscripts: T in the Egyptian National Library and M2 in the Millet Library. In the word "t[ū]" in the closing couplet, the letter in square brackets is the part Fatih Başpınar added to the text. To whom and when it was written is not known.

M2 is the manuscript copied by Ali Emîrî Efendi. According to Bayram's description, on folios 37b-38b of this manuscript Ali Emîrî brought together some of Bayezid's Persian poems under the heading "Sultân Bâyezîd Hân-ı Velî Rahmetullahü'l-Melikü'l-‘Alâ Hazretlerinin Ba‘zı Fârisî Eş‘âr-ı Belâgat-Nisâr-ı Şâhâneleri". This section contains three Persian ghazals, one kıt‘a and two matlas. On the folios after 40b of the manuscript are Ali Emîrî's tahmis and tesdis poems on Adlî's poems. According to Başpınar the Persian poems make up roughly one tenth of all Bayezid's poems. The text of this ghazal is the one Başpınar established by correcting the readings of Bayram 2008.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet praises the beloved's stature in the language of sovereignty. The beloved's stature makes the cypress of the garden envious; if the beloved walked once with a sway, the beloved would take tribute from the beauties. In this image the beloved is the ruler of the realm of beauty. The words "bustânî" (of the garden) and "bistânî" (that you may take) rhyme in very close sounds; this likeness of sound forms a cinas (pun) in the couplet. There is also a congruence of images (tenasüp) between cypress, garden and swaying walk.

The second couplet names Mânî, remembered for his painting. The beloved's face is a matchless design from the pen of God's art. Even the most skilled painter would be astonished on seeing this face. The fact that the word "sûret" means both face and picture creates, together with the words "nakş" (design) and "kilk" (pen), a congruence of images belonging to the art of painting. The naming of Mânî is an allusion (telmih). The couplet makes a comparison between the picture made by human hand and the work of the Creator.

In the third couplet the rival drives the lover from the beloved's quarter. The lover says the authority to drive him away does not lie with the rival, that the command belongs to the beloved: let the beloved summon him or drive him away. The contrast (tezat) between "hvânî" (you summon) and "rânî" (you drive away) leaves the lover's fate entirely to the beloved's will. The word "fermân" (command) is again the language of a ruler. The author of the poem is a sultan who holds the power of command, and here he leaves the command to the beloved; this is a clear example of the exchange of servant and sultan seen in Adlî's poems.

The fourth couplet expresses the wish to give up the soul, and the fifth the longing to be summoned to the table. In the closing couplet "hvân" (table) occurs twice and sets up a play of sound with the rhyme word "hvânî" (you summon). While the whole world has become a guest at the beloved's table of union, Adlî has been left outside. Likening union to a table is a metaphor (istiare), and the lover's complaint is voiced through this image.

Bibliography

  • Fatih Başpınar, "Sultan II. Bayezid'in Farsça Şiirleri Üzerine", Divan Edebiyatı Araştırmaları Dergisi 8 (2012), pp. 37-66, poem no. 13 (text and translation p. 62). Bayram 2008, p. 371, poem no. 166.
  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018, pp. 30-33 (descriptions of the manuscripts and Table 4; the Persian section and the tahmis poems in M2 p. 33). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Online sources