Original Persian Text

Metre: Fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün (remel)

Nīst der-destem be-cuz īn naḳd-i cān
Tā keşem der-pāyet ey rūḥ-i revān
Çun lebet cūyem mekeş ez-va‘deem
Tā be-key ḫvāhī merā dāden zebān
Ez-firāḳ-i la‘let ey durr-i yetīm
Çend bāşed çeşm-i men gevher-feşān
Çun dilemrā āşikārā bordeī
Ez-çi geştī ez-naẓar mārā nihān
Māh-i men ez-dil hevā-ḫvāh-i tuem
Dil çi bāşed māh-i men billāh zi-cān
Ber-dilet dāġī nihem goftī zi-ġam
Raḥm kon ber-‘Adlī vu īnrā bimān

In English

1. O beloved, like a flowing soul, I have nothing in my hand but this ready coin of my soul to spread before your feet. ("Nakd" means in its dictionary sense ready money; the only capital the lover can offer the beloved is his soul. "Rûh-ı revân" can be understood both as "flowing soul" and as "walking, swaying soul".)

2. While I long for your lips, do not keep putting off your promise; how long will you go on giving me your word? ("Zebân dâden" means in its dictionary sense "to give one's word"; the lover complains of promises not kept.)

3. O peerless pearl, how long will my eye go on scattering pearls because I am parted from your ruby lips? ("Dürr-i yetîm" is in its dictionary sense a large, matchless pearl that grows alone in its shell. The pearls the eye scatters are tears.)

4. You carried off my heart before everyone's eyes; why then have you hidden yourself from our sight?

5. My moon, I long for you with my heart; my moon, what is the heart, by God I long for you with my soul.

6. You said, "I will set a scar of grief upon your heart"; have pity on Adlî and leave this be. ("Dâğ" means in its dictionary sense a brand, the mark struck with a red-hot iron. The couplet can be read in two ways: if "în-râ bimân" is understood as "give this up", the lover asks the beloved not to inflict this wound; Başpınar, however, translates "have pity on Adlî and do this", in which case even the wound the beloved inflicts is a mercy to the lover.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is Adlî's seventh Persian ghazal. It has six couplets and is written in the short form of the remel metre, "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün". The ghazal has no redif (refrain word); the rhyme is the sound "-ân": cân, revân, zebân, feşân, nihân and bimân. The "cân" of the first line of the opening couplet returns as the rhyme in the fifth couplet. The ghazal is number 160 in Bayram's 2008 edition. According to the table in Bayram's 2018 edition it is found only in the T manuscript in the Egyptian National Library. To whom and when it was written is not known.

The opening couplet of the ghazal is one of Fatih Başpınar's examples of misread words. In the line Bayram read as "Nîst derd sitem be-coz în-nakd-i cân", the first letter of one word had been attached to the preceding word, and the words "derd" (pain) and "sitem" (cruelty) had appeared. Başpınar shows that, for the sake of metre and meaning, the same letters must be read "der-destem" (in my hand). The line thus becomes a clear sentence saying that the lover has nothing in his hand but his soul. When publishing the Persian poems Başpınar also gives a translation of each. His aim, in his own words, is both to contribute to the assessment of Bayezid's literary personality and to show that the text has been correctly read and understood. He also notes separately that the sounds peculiar to Persian cannot be fully rendered in Latin letters.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal opens with how little the lover can offer the beloved. There is nothing in hand but the "ready coin of the soul". Likening the soul to money and its offering to the beloved to spreading something before the feet is a metaphor (istiare) taken from trade. Addressing the beloved in the opening couplet as "rûh-ı revân" creates a fine link between the "cân" (soul) the lover offers and the beloved, who is also a soul.

The second and fourth couplets complain of the beloved's conduct. The beloved gives promises but always puts them off; the beloved has carried off the heart openly, yet has disappeared from sight. The contrast (tezat) between "âşikârâ" (openly) and "nihân" (hidden) in the fourth couplet lies at the centre of this complaint: the one who takes the heart before everyone's eyes hides away. The third couplet builds a chain of motifs. The beloved is a "dürr-i yetîm", the lips are ruby, and the lover's eye scatters pearls in separation. There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) between pearl, ruby and "gevher-feşân" (scattering jewels); the pearls of tears and the beloved's peerless pearl meet in the same world of precious stones.

The fifth couplet is built on repetition. "Mâh-i men" (my moon) occurs in both lines, and the lover says first that he longs for the beloved "with the heart", then "with the soul". Rising from heart to soul with the words "what is the heart" is a gradation that heightens the degree of love. The closing couplet mentions the beloved's threat to strike a "dâğ" on the lover's heart. The sense of scar and brand carried by the word suggests the indelible mark love leaves on the lover. In Başpınar's reading the lover wants even this wound; in the other reading he asks for pity and for the wound to be left aside.

Bibliography

  • Fatih Başpınar, "Sultan II. Bayezid'in Farsça Şiirleri Üzerine", Divan Edebiyatı Araştırmaları Dergisi 8 (2012), pp. 37-66, poem no. 7 (text and translation p. 56; correction in the opening couplet pp. 42-43; aim of the translation pp. 37 and 49). Bayram 2008, p. 365, poem no. 160.
  • Yavuz Bayram (ed.), Adlî Dîvânı (Dîvân-ı Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî), Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018, pp. 30-32 (descriptions of the manuscripts and Table 4). ekitap.ktb.gov.tr

Online sources