Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün (remel). The edition is silent on the metre of this müfred; remel is what our scansion gives.

Bilmezem bu hilkat-i ‘âlemde mi insâf yok
Olmadum mı yoksa ben hâlâ sezâ-yı merhamet

In English

1. I do not know: is there no justice in the creation of the world, or have I still not become worthy of mercy?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The record this couplet rests on names no source: as Doğan points out, it appears on page 80 of Saffet Sıtkı's Fâtih Dîvânı, printed by the Ahmet Halit bookshop in 1944, with no statement of where it was taken from. Nor is it in the Millet manuscript. Its attribution to Mehmed II therefore rests on a much weaker record than the pieces found in the tezkires or in old anthologies. It is a "müfred", a couplet spoken on its own whose two lines do not rhyme with each other; it is in the remel metre.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplet is built between two questions and leaves the answer open. The lover thinks either that there is an injustice in the creation of the world, the "hilkat-i 'âlem", or that he himself has still not become worthy of mercy. Complaint against fate and fortune is a common attitude in divan poetry; this couplet, however, hesitates between laying the blame on fate and blaming itself. It turns to none of the divan's familiar images, such as the beloved, wine or the garden; it is spoken directly, like an inner monologue. The word "hâlâ" (still) suggests a long wait, and "sezâ" (worthy) a deserved reward: the lover has long been waiting for mercy but does not know why it has not come.

Bibliography

  • Fâtih Sultan Mehmed (Avnî), Fâtih Dîvânı ve Şerhi / Dīwān of Sultan Mehmed II with Commentary, ed. Muhammet Nur Doğan, English trans. Michael D. Sheridan, 3rd ed., Istanbul: Türkiye Yazma Eserler Kurumu Başkanlığı, 2023, poem 82, p. 556 (not in Millet 305; Saffet Sıtkı's edition (Istanbul: Ahmet Halit Kitabevi, 1944), p. 80, without a source). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources