Photo: Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0

Manzume 147 — Bir iki gün olan cihana kalma

Amasya05 Editorial Board • Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk • 01 October 2026 • Updated: 14 October 2026 • 3 min reading

Three couplets against trusting the world, where Mahmud Paşa persuades İsmail Beg to give up Sinop and the Conqueror will not let his "elder brother" kiss his hand.

Contents 4

1Original Ottoman Turkish Text
2In English
3Literary and Historical Commentary
4Bibliography

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Bir iki gün olan cihana kalma
Ziyândur sevgüsi ziyâna kalma

Senüñ aduñ fülân söylenür ancak
Hemîn bir sözdür ol fülâna kalma

Yalandur da'vâsı güler yüzüñe
Şîvesi pür yalandur sözine kalma

In English

1. Do not trust in a world that lasts a day or two; its love is loss, do not trust in loss.

2. Your name will only be spoken as "so-and-so"; it is only a word, do not trust in that so-and-so.

3. Its claim is a lie (for all) its smiling face; its manner is full of lies, do not trust its word.

Literary and Historical Commentary

My Elder Brother

At this point in the chapter it has been told that at Ankara İsmail Beg's son Hasan Beg was seized and his sancak given to Kızıl Ahmed, and that the people of Kastamonu submitted to Kızıl Ahmed. İsmail Beg withdraws to Sinop. Mahmud Paşa goes to him and talks with him: he asks how long he can hold out against the sovereign with a single fortress, and reminds him that the town's harbour has already been taken from him. İsmail Beg says he fears the sovereign will destroy him and his children; the paşa answers "God forbid" and promises that he will be given fiefs larger than his own revenues and may take them wherever he wishes. İsmail Beg accepts under oath. The sovereign encamps facing the fortress; İsmail Beg comes out and wants to kiss his hand, but the khan does not allow it, saying, "You are my elder brother. Is it fitting that you should kiss my hand?" Then the sovereign's slaves are placed in the fortresses of Kastamonu, Ayafni and Sinop; Hasan Beg is given the sancak of Bolu.

Do Not Trust

The counsel that follows the end of a principality is simple: do not trust the world. The word "kalma", repeated at the end of each couplet, is used here in the sense "do not be deceived, do not trust". The world lasts a day or two and its love is loss. The second couplet makes a subtle play on words: in the end a man's name is spoken only as "so-and-so"; it is nothing but a word, and one must not trust in that either. The third likens the world to a liar with a smiling face: its claim is a lie and its manner is a lie. In the previous verse it was said that a man's possession is in the end one ell of earth; this verse continues the same counsel, and the long-lined piece that follows right after completes it. Before the refrain "kalma" stand the rhymes cihana, ziyâna, fülâna and sözine.