Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefâîlün mefâîlün mefâîlün mefâîlün (hezec). We drew the long hezec pattern from the lines themselves; the edition records no metre.

Dili bülbül kılupdur ‘ârızuñ üstindeki güller
Beni sevdâ ile başdan çıkarmışdur o kâküller
Eger ‘uşşâka derd ü mihnet ise ‘ışkdan hâsil
Bi-hamdi’llâh ki vâfirdür bize ‘ışkuñda hâsiller
Sabâ ‘ıkd-i ser-i zülfüñi hall itmekde ‘âcizdür
Belî her kişiye âsân degüldür hall-i müşkiller
Ne nisbet aramızda kim gelür çün nûş-leb yâruñ
Baña zehr-i gamı helvâ rakîbe zehr-i kâtiller
Senüñ ‘ışkuñ ile dîvâne oldı niçe ferzâne
Senüñ sevdân ile mecnûn olupdur niçe ‘âkiller
Ne lâzım tîğ-ı müjgânı seni katl eylesün dimek
Bilürsüz ehl-i hâl olan olur bu söze kâ’iller
Eger deyr-i mugân tavfın ideydüñ ‘Avnîyâ bir gün
Görürdüñ âteş-i meyden fürûzân şem‘-i mahfiller

In English

1. The roses on your cheek have made my heart a nightingale; those forelocks have led me astray with passion (sevdâ).

2. If what lovers gain from love is pain and trouble, thank God, our gains in your love are plentiful.

3. The morning breeze (saba) is powerless to untie the knot at the tip of your locks; yes, to solve hard problems is not easy for everyone.

4. What likeness can there be between us: the poison of grief from the sweet-lipped beloved tastes like halva to me, but like deadly poison to the rival.

5. Through your love many a sage has gone mad; through passion for you many a wise man has become a Mecnun.

6. What need is there to say "may the sword of her eyelash kill you"? You know that those who understand the state of the heart already consent to these words.

7. O Avnî, had you one day made the round of the Magian temple (the tavern), you would have seen the candles of the gatherings burning with the fire of wine.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

In this ghazal without a redif the plural suffix carries the rhyme: the words "güller, kâküller, hâsiller, müşkiller, kâtiller, 'âkiller, kâ'iller, mahfiller" meet in the sound "-iller / -üller". The seven couplets are written in the broad hezec pattern of four "mefâîlün" feet. The editions part ways in the first line of the fourth couplet: Kemal Edip Ünsel reads "nûş-i leb yârun", while Doğan, looking at the sense of the couplet as a whole, prefers the reading "nûş-leb yâruñ" (of the sweet-lipped beloved).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Because of the roses on the cheek, the heart of the opening couplet has turned into a nightingale; on seeing the rose it has begun to sing. In the second line the word "sevdâ" looks in two directions. As Doğan explains, the word shares its root with "sevâd", meaning "black", and expresses the melancholy of love called black passion (kara sevda); the beloved's black forelocks and black passion thus meet in colour. The idiom "baştan çıkarmak" likewise suggests both leading astray and making one give up one's head, one's life.

The second couplet sets up a language of trade: love is a market, and its profit is pain and trouble; the poet gives thanks for having profited greatly in this market. Not even the breeze, in the third couplet, can untie the knot in the beloved's locks. "Hall-i müşkil" means solving difficult problems; Doğan points to a sound-play as well: "müşkil" (difficult) lies very close to "müşkîn" (musk-scented, jet black), an epithet of the locks. The fourth couplet separates lover and rival: the grief that comes from the beloved is as sweet as halva to the lover and as bitter as deadly poison to the rival. The divan lover's contentment with his suffering is what sets him apart from the rival, who knows nothing of this high state of love.

In the sixth couplet the words "may the sword of her eyelash kill you" are a formula of cursing, but for the lover they count as a blessing: those who know the heart already consent to die by that sword. The final couplet names the tavern "deyr-i mugân", the temple of the Magi, and speaks of visiting it with the word "tavf" (circumambulation). In Doğan's reading these are figures of Sufism: the tavern is the dervish lodge and wine is divine love; the cups are lamps, and the wine in them is light shining like a candle. As an example he also gives Bâkî's couplet, which builds the same picture in another context: "Devr-i meclis ki safâ câmiinün çemberidür / Âb-ı rengîn ile kandîl-i fürûzânı kadeh" (the circle of the gathering is the ring of the mosque of delight; with their coloured water, the cups are its blazing lamps).

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 11, pp. 151-154 (manuscript: Millet, Ali Emîrî Manzum 305, fol. 4b). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources