Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefâîlün mefâîlün mefâîlün mefâîlün (hezec). The four-mefâîlün pattern is not written in the edition; the identification belongs to us.

Saçuñ sevdâsın itmekde göñül bir bûya kâni‘dür
Benüm baht-ı siyâhumda rakîb aña da mâni‘dür
Melekden hûrdan sebkat ider dildâr hüsniyle
Degüldür âb [u] gil aslı hemânâ sun‘-ı Sâni‘dür
Benüm ‘ışkum senüñ hüsnüñ beyânın kılsa râvîler
Ne deñlü vasf iderlerse ke-mâ-hî cümle vâki‘dür
Nice mahfî dutam esrâr-ı ‘ışkı mekr ü hîleyle
Dutupdur iştihârı halk içinde hayli şâyi‘dür
Bugün mülk ü hazâyin her ne cem‘iyyet ki cem‘ itdüñ
Mey ü mahbûba sarf olmazsa ‘Avnî cümle zâyi‘dür

In English

1. While the heart suffers passion for your hair it is content with a scent (or a hope); in my black fortune the rival bars even that.

2. The beloved surpasses angel and houri in beauty; her origin is not water and clay, she seems a special work of the Maker.

3. Should storytellers recount my love and your beauty, however much they describe them, all of it is true just as it is.

4. How am I to keep the secrets of love hidden by trickery and guile? It has become famous and spread far among the people.

5. O Avnî, whatever realm and treasure you have gathered today, if it is not spent on wine and the beloved, all of it is wasted.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The rhyme of the ghazal is built on active participles of Arabic origin: the words "kâni', mâni', Sâni', vâki', şâyi', zâyi'" all follow the same pattern and meet in the sound "-â-i'"; the redif is "-dür", a suffix. The hezec pattern of four "mefâîlün" opens a wide space for these heavy words. Four of the five couplets describe the lover's state, while the final couplet suddenly turns into a piece of advice.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet can be read in two different ways through the double meaning of two words. "Sevdâ" means, besides love and longing, "very black" and trade; "bû" means hope as well as scent. In the first reading the heart, while suffering passion for the hair, is content with a scent that comes from it; in the second, the heart trading in the market of the hair is satisfied with a crumb of hope. In both cases black fortune and the rival bar even this small share. Hair, passion, black fortune and the rival, as Doğan notes, all call up the colour black and form a congruence of images (tenasüp) in the couplet.

Next the beloved's origin is questioned. Man was created from water and clay; but since the beloved surpasses the angels and houris in beauty, she cannot be of this earth and must be a special work of the Maker. As a further play on words, "Sâni'" (maker, craftsman) and "sun'" (work, craft) come from the same root. In the third couplet the storytellers, the "râvîler", come on stage. With these words, Doğan suggests, the poet presents his own love as a story on every tongue, like the famous love stories of history; however much the storytellers exaggerate, what they say is the truth itself. The fourth couplet draws the consequence: a love that has become so famous can no longer be hidden.

The advice of the final couplet is given by a ruler who owned both realm and treasure: if realm and treasure are not spent on wine and the beloved, they are wasted. Doğan proposes that these words be read in the figurative world of Sufism: realm and treasure are reason, wine is divine love, and the beloved is God, the possessor of absolute beauty. On this reading the couplet asks that all one has gathered be spent on the path of love.

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 26, pp. 247-249 (manuscript: Millet, Ali Emîrî Manzum 305, fol. 9a). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources