Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün mefā‘īlün

Müjeñ tîrine cân itmek hedef devlet nişânıdur
Velî benüm gibi ḫâkînüñ ol devlet ne şânıdur
Yeter düşdüm ırâġ oḳ gibi ḳurbân olduġum raḥm it
Ḫam-ı ebrûlaruñdan kim yed-i ḳudret kemânıdur
Zamânında bu şâhuñ çek taṣarrufdan elüñ ey çarḫ
Yıḳar bir bir senüñ göñlüñ yigitlik ʿunfuvânîdür

In English

1. To make one's soul the target of your eyelash's arrow is a sign of good fortune; but how could one as lowly as dust, like me, aspire to such fortune? ("Nişān" means both the target of an arrow and a sign or token.)

2. Enough, you for whom I would give my life; like an arrow that has fallen wide of the mark I have fallen far from you. Have mercy, for the sake of the arch of your brows, which is the bow of the hand of divine power. (The eyebrow is likened to a bow and the eyelash to an arrow; the poet compares himself to an arrow that left the bow but fell far short of the target.)

3. O wheel of heaven, in this king's time withdraw your hand from meddling in men's affairs; he will break your heart piece by piece, for he is in the first prime of his valour. (The wheel, that is fate, is known for overturning people's fortunes; the poet says that a new and young ruler will break that power. Âşık Çelebi's text carries the same meaning; in Hüsameddin's quotation the second line reads "Yıkarlar pîr isen gönlün", "if you are old, they will break your heart".)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

What survives is three couplets from a kaside (qasida). Both lines of the first couplet rhyme ("nişânıdur / şânıdur"), so this couplet is the opening couplet (matla) of the kaside. The rhyme is "-ânı" and the redif (refrain word) is the suffix "-dur"; the word "ʿunfuvânîdür" at the end of the third couplet continues the same rhyme. The metre is from the hezec family of aruz (quantitative metre), the pattern "mefā‘īlün" repeated four times; this long and stately measure is frequent in kasides of praise and petition. Latîfî states that the first two couplets come from the "miftâh", the opening section, of the kaside, and that the third couplet belongs to the same poem. The full kaside is not known today.

The same three couplets also appear in Âşık Çelebi; in the second line of the first couplet he reads "bencileyin" where Latîfî's text has "benüm gibi". Metrically Âşık Çelebi's reading is correct; in Latîfî's text the line falls one syllable short. In the third couplet Âşık Çelebi has "elin" and "çerḫ" for "elüñ" and "çarḫ".

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Although the kaside was written in praise of a ruler, in these three couplets the person praised is addressed as one would address a beloved. In divan poetry there is a constant passage between beloved and ruler, lover and servant, and these couplets are a good example of it. In the first couplet the eyelash is an arrow and the lover's soul its target. Because arrow, target and mark are drawn from the same field, a strong congruence of images (tenasüp) is created; the double sense of "nişān", both target and token, adds a double entendre (tevriye) to the couplet. To be struck by the eyelash's arrow is a sign of good fortune, but the poet calls himself "ḫâkî", made of dust, lowly, and deems himself unworthy of such happiness.

In the second couplet the image is reversed. This time the poet himself is an arrow, but one that never reached the target and fell far away. This distance corresponds exactly to the episode Latîfî relates, the poet's removal from the prince's circle. The brows of the beloved, that is, of the person praised, are called "yed-i ḳudret kemânı", the bow of the hand of divine power: that bow has been drawn by God's own hand. The poet asks for mercy for the sake of those brows.

In the third couplet the poet turns to the wheel of heaven. In divan poetry the wheel is imagined as a force that constantly changes people's fortunes and turns against the good. The poet tells it to stop meddling in affairs during this king's reign, or else the young ruler will break its heart. "‘Unfuvân" means the beginning of something, especially the first season of youth. The ruler at the outset of his valour is shown as a power that even the wheel of fate cannot resist.

Historical Context

There are two different accounts of the occasion of the kaside. Latîfî relates that while Prince Bayezid was Çelebi Sultan, that is, governor (sanjak-bey) in Amasya, Âfitâbî entered his private circle and enjoyed great esteem, and that he was later removed from it through the discord and slander of the envious. According to the biographer, the poet set down his situation and his grief in a kaside in order to present what had befallen him to the prince, and adorned it with figures of speech. These couplets come from that kaside, and the third couplet, in Latîfî's words, shows the poet's resentment and distress.

Hüseyin Hüsameddin, however, presents the same couplets as coming from a kaside that Âfitâbî sent from Ankara on the occasion of Bayezid's accession in 886 (1481). According to Hüsameddin, Âfitâbî was among those harmed in the Halîmî affair of 883 and was sent to Ankara, where he taught as a madrasa professor. The two accounts do not fully coincide; both agree, however, that the kaside was written after the poet had been removed from Bayezid's side. Since Hüsameddin gives no source, Latîfî's older account should be regarded as the more reliable. The phrase "bu şâh", this king, can be used both of a prince and of a sultan, so the text is open to both interpretations.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Latîfî, Tezkiretü'ş-şu'arâ ve Tabsıratü'n-nuzamâ, ed. Rıdvan Canım, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), pp. 135-136, entry on Âftâbî. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Âşık Çelebi, Meşâ'irü'ş-şu'arâ, ed. Filiz Kılıç, Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yay., 2018 (e-book), p. 144, entry on Âftâbî. ekitap.ktb.gov.tr
  • Abdizâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin Yasar, Amasya Tarihi 6-8. Cilt, ed. Songül Keçeci Kurt - Recep Orhan Özel - Metin Hakverdioğlu, Amasya: Amasya Belediyesi, 2022, p. 20. amasya.bel.tr

Books

Online sources