Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün (remel). The short remel pattern is not given in the edition; we did the scansion.

Dîde zahm-ı gamzeden pür-hûndur
Yaşı anuñçün anuñ gül-gûndur
Bezm-i gamda nâya hem-dem oluban
Kaddümi çeng eylemek kânûndur
Dil nice rüsvâ vü şeydâ olmasun
Gözlerüñ fettânına meftûndur
Hüsrevâ bu hadd-i gül-gûnuñ görüp
Saña Ferhâd olmayan mecnûndur
Gözyaşın harcadı vasluñ almadı
‘Avnî bu bâzârda mağbûndur

In English

1. The eye is full of blood from the wound of your glance; that is why its tears are rose-coloured.

2. In the gathering of grief, to share one's breath with the ney and bend one's stature like the harp (çeng) is the rule (kânûn) in love.

3. How should the heart not be disgraced and mad? It is smitten with the seducer that is your eyes.

4. O Hüsrev (my sultan), whoever sees this rose-coloured cheek of yours and does not become a Ferhad to you is a Mecnun (a madman).

5. He spent his tears and did not buy union with you; Avnî has been cheated in this market.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The five couplets, written in the short eleven-syllable branch of remel in the pattern "fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün", end with the redif "-dur". In the rhyme the words "pür-hûn, gül-gûn, kânûn, meftûn, mecnûn, mağbûn" meet in the sound "-ûn"; each of these words is the centre of gravity of its own couplet. In keeping with the short metre, the ghazal has a tight and dense manner.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The second couplet sets up a musical gathering. The lover moans like the ney (reed flute) and becomes its "hem-dem", its breath-companion; his stature, bent double with pain, resembles the çeng, a bow-shaped stringed instrument. The word "kânûn" at the end of the line means rule, custom: to be like this in the gathering of grief is the norm. Doğan notes that the word also refers, by way of double meaning, to the instrument of the same name; ney, çeng and kanun together form an ensemble.

The fourth couplet plays with proper names. "Hüsrev" is an address to the beloved and means king, sultan; at the same time it recalls the royal hero of the story of Hüsrev and Şîrîn. Ferhad is the mountain-digger in the same story who loves Şîrîn, and Mecnun is the lover of Leylâ and a name meaning madman. Doğan points out one more subtle detail: the epithet "gül-gûn" (rose-coloured), used for the cheek, is also the name of the horse that Hüsrev gave Şîrîn. The couplet thus fits all the heroes and even the belongings of a story into one couplet: whoever does not fall in love like Ferhad with the beloved who is a Sultan Hüsrev is a Mecnun, a fool.

The final couplet closes in the language of trade. Avnî has spent his tears like money but has not been able to buy the goods of union in return; "mağbûn" means someone cheated in a bargain, who has made a loss. The bloody tears of the opening couplet turn into capital in the final one, and the ghazal ends by saying that this capital has been wasted.

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 25, pp. 242-244 (manuscript: Millet, Ali Emîrî Manzum 305, fol. 9a). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources