Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilâtün Fe‘ilün

Ey göñül himmet-i ‘ulyâ ile ben mümtâzam
Taşlu yerlerde karâr eyleyici şâh-bâzam
Kalmazın ‘âlem-i süflîde hümâ-pervâzam
Rûh-ı kudsî baña hem-dem ben aña hem-râzam
Cây-gâh olmagıla şehr-i Amâsiyye baña
Muttasıl feyz olınur kuvvet-i kudsiyye baña
Virmezin devlet-i dünyâya ma‘ârif güherin
Sen beni dûn u denî añlama ‘âlî-nazarın
Kadrüm iz‘ân idenüñ hıdmetine hâk-i derin
Sırr-ı mahfî ise de n'olsa kimüñ anı dirin
Cây-gâh olmagıla şehr-i Amâsiyye baña
Muttasıl feyz olınur kuvvet-i kudsiyye baña
Sûretâ câh u celâl ehli gibi muhteşemem
Mâlik-i tabl u ‘alem sâhib-i hayl ü haşemem
Ma‘nide sâlik-i peşmîne-keş-i mugtenemem
Köhne ihrâm ile çün şeyh-i harem-i muhteremem
Cây-gâh olmagıla şehr-i Amâsiyye baña
Muttasıl feyz olınur kuvvet-i kudsiyye baña
Ne bilür ehl-i riyâ ben niçe hikmet-dânam
Fahr-ı erbâb-ı hüner merd-i kavî-iz‘ânam
Nakd-i ‘irfân ile mahsûd-ı ribâ-hârânam
Sadr-ı vîrânede dervîş-i tehî-hemyânam
Cây-gâh olmagıla şehr-i Amâsiyye baña
Muttasıl feyz olınur kuvvet-i kudsiyye baña
Niçe şeh-zâdelerüñ mesken ü me’vâsıdur ol
Ehl-i hâcât olanuñ Ka‘be-i ‘ulyâsıdur ol
Sâhil-i bahr-ı gınâ meşgale deryâsıdur ol
Evliyâ mecma‘ı aktâb musallâsıdur ol
Cây-gâh olmagıla şehr-i Amâsiyye baña
Muttasıl feyz olınur kuvvet-i kudsiyye baña
Merkad-i pâkine var Hazret-i Pîr İlyâs'uñ
Pür-safâ eylesün âyîneñi silsün pâsuñ
Gümüşî-zâde'ye dil nakdi gerek ihsâsuñ
Zerk ile bencileyin kalbini tâ nahhâsuñ
Cây-gâh olmagıla şehr-i Amâsiyye baña
Muttasıl feyz olınur kuvvet-i kudsiyye baña
Hamdü-lillâh ki hüner mülkine oldum vâlî
Oldı şânum gibi ‘irfân ile kadrüm ‘âlî
Kevkebümden yañadur kevkebenüñ ikbâli
Hasb-i hâl oldı bu güftâr baña ey Âlî
Cây-gâh olmagıla şehr-i Amâsiyye baña
Muttasıl feyz olınur kuvvet-i kudsiyye baña

In English

1. O heart, I am distinguished by a lofty aspiration; I am a falcon that settles on rocky places. Like the huma I fly high, I do not stay in this lower world. The holy spirit is my companion, and I am its confidant. Since the city of Amasya has become my abode, grace flows to me without cease from a holy power.

2. I do not give the jewel of my learning for worldly fortune. O you of lofty gaze, do not think me base and worthless. I am the dust of the door, in the service of one who understands my worth. Even if it is a hidden secret, I tell whose it is. Since the city of Amasya has become my abode, grace flows to me without cease from a holy power.

3. Outwardly I am imposing like men of rank and splendour; owner of drum and banner, master of horses and retinue. But inwardly I am a wayfarer who counts the woollen cloak a gain; wrapped in an old pilgrim's garment, I am like a revered sheikh of the Kaaba. Since the city of Amasya has become my abode, grace flows to me without cease from a holy power.

4. What do the hypocrites know of how much wisdom I know. I am the pride of men of talent, a man of strong understanding. For my wealth of knowledge I am the one the usurers envy; at the head of a ruined place I am a dervish with an empty purse. Since the city of Amasya has become my abode, grace flows to me without cease from a holy power.

5. That city is the home and refuge of many a prince; it is the lofty Kaaba of those in need. On the shore of the sea of wealth it is an ocean of occupation; it is the gathering place of saints, the prayer ground of the poles of sanctity. Since the city of Amasya has become my abode, grace flows to me without cease from a holy power.

6. Go to the pure tomb of Hazret-i Pîr İlyâs; may he fill the mirror of your heart with purity and wipe away its rust. To Gümüşîzâde (a member of the Gümüşlüzâde family) you must show your closeness with the coin of the heart. (The fourth line is obscure; see the commentary.) Since the city of Amasya has become my abode, grace flows to me without cease from a holy power.

7. Praise be to God that I have become governor of the realm of talent; like my name, my worth too has become exalted through learning. The fortune of my pomp comes from my own star. O Âlî, these words have become the account of my state. Since the city of Amasya has become my abode, grace flows to me without cease from a holy power.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a müseddes of seven stanzas; the müseddes is the verse form in which each stanza consists of six lines. The title given by Arslan is "Müseddes-i Ünsiyye Der-Vasf-ı Şehr-i Amâsiyye"; "ünsiyye" derives from "üns", meaning familiarity and intimacy, and the title can be understood as "a müseddes of intimacy on the description of the city of Amasya". The first four lines of every stanza rhyme among themselves (mümtâzam, şâh-bâzam, hümâ-pervâzam, hem-râzam and so on); the last two lines are a refrain repeated unchanged in every stanza. The rhyme of the refrain is "Amâsiyye / kudsiyye" and its redif "baña" ("to me"). The metre is the remel pattern "fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilâtün fe‘ilün" of aruz.

The text is taken from Mehmet Arslan's 2018 paper, the only source that publishes the poem; Arslan does not indicate from which copy or edition of the divan he took it.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first four stanzas of the müseddes speak less of Amasya than of the poet himself, and they carry a well-known feature of Âlî's poetry. In the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi Ömer Faruk Akün writes that, beyond love, Âlî brought into poetry the injustices he suffered, the posts withheld from him and the feelings born of his ambition to rise; in these stanzas too the poet likens himself to the high-flying falcon and the huma, says he would not exchange his learning for worldly fortune, and complains that hypocrites and "usurers" do not understand him. In the third stanza a contrast is drawn between appearance and inner reality: outwardly he is a bey with drum and banner, inwardly a dervish in a woollen cloak. "Tabl u ‘alem" (drum and banner) were the insignia of sanjak governors and reflect the poet's real position in Amasya.

The fifth and sixth stanzas turn to the city itself. Amasya is named "the home of many a prince", the gathering place of saints and the prayer ground of the poles of sanctity; in the sixth stanza the tomb of the Halveti sheikh Pîr İlyâs is shown as the place that will wipe the rust from the mirror of the heart. In this stanza there is a dense congruence of images (tenasüp) around metals: the silver (gümüş) in the name "Gümüşî-zâde", "nakd" (coin), "kalb" (both heart and debased, counterfeit coin), "nahhâs" (coppersmith) and "pâs" (rust). The syntax of the fourth line is obscure, and a certain reading is hard to give. In the last stanza the pen name is used as a double entendre (tevriye): the phrase "kadrüm ‘âlî" (my worth is exalted) and the address "ey Âlî" rest on the same word. The expression "hüner mülkine oldum vâlî" ("I have become governor of the realm of talent") says that the true governorship of the poet, who really was the administrator of a sanjak, lies in the realm of talent. There is a cinas (paronomasia) between "kevkeb" (star) and "kevkebe" (pomp).

Historical Context

Arslan states that Âlî wrote the poem "while governor in Amasya". According to the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, when Mehmed III came to the throne (1595) Âlî asked for the finance directorship of Egypt, where he hoped to find sources for his Künhü'l-ahbâr; when the influential aghas of the palace blocked this, he had to content himself with the governorship of the sanjak of Amasya and the finance directorship of Rûm; in the same year he was removed from the Rûm post and then transferred from Amasya to Kayseri. The drum and banner of the poem and the word "vâlî" (governor) point to this short period as sanjak governor. His praising a city to which he had come unwillingly as a refuge and a source of grace can be read as the poet's way of meeting his disappointment with the city's spiritual worth; this interpretation is ours. Detailed notes on the places named in the poem and on the Gümüşlüzâde family are on the page in the Poems on Amasya section, and the poet's literary personality is discussed in Gelibolulu Mustafa Âlî: Poet and Works.

Bibliography

Online sources