Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün (remel). The edition carries no note on metre; this line records our identification.

‘Işk ile vîrân iden göñlini ma‘mûr istemez
Hâtırın mahzûn iden bir lahza mesrûr istemez
Hâk-sâr olup hevâ-y-ile gubâr olan göñül
Hâk-i râh-ı yârdan bir dem özin dûr istemez
Hoş gören âkil fenâ tavrını şöhret gözlemez
Künc-i uzlet isteyen kendüyi meşhûr istemez
Lâ‘l-i nâba meyl kılmaz bağrını pür-hûn iden
Dâmenin pür-eşk iden lû’lû-yı menşûr istemez
‘Işk nakdi bir hazînedür aña yokdur zevâl
Mâlik olan ‘Avnîyâ bir gence gencûr istemez

In English

1. He who has ruined his heart with love does not want it rebuilt; he who has made his mind sorrowful does not want to be glad even for a moment.

2. The heart that has fallen to the ground and turned to dust with the wind of desire does not want to be far from the dust of the beloved's road even for a moment.

3. The wise man who finds the way of transience fair does not look for fame; he who wants the corner of seclusion does not want to make himself famous.

4. He who has filled his breast with blood does not incline to pure ruby; he who has filled his skirt with tears does not want scattered pearls.

5. The coin of love is a treasure that never runs out; O Avnî, he who owns it does not want to be the keeper of a treasury.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The redif "istemez" (does not want) sets up a list of refusals: the lover does not want prosperity, joy, distance from the beloved, fame, jewels or treasure. In the rhyme the words "ma'mûr, mesrûr, dûr, meşhûr, menşûr, gencûr" meet in "-ûr". Its five couplets in remel come closer to a poem of renunciation and contentment than to the divan's love ghazals.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the opening couplet the heart is a house and the mind (hatır) the person living in it. As Doğan notes, in divan poetry the heart is likened to a house, a palace or a country; love has ruined this house, yet the lover does not want it repaired, for the ruin is love itself. Turned to dust, the heart of the second couplet does not want to leave the beloved's road. Doğan also draws from this couplet the sense that the lover is wary lest the wind of his sighs and the flood of his tears carry his body of dust away from the road; the image of dust and wind from the twenty-second and twenty-seventh ghazals thus works here in the opposite direction.

The third couplet speaks of withdrawing from the world. The wise man who adopts the attitude of transience does not covet fame; one who wants the corner of seclusion does not want to be talked about. This couplet carries a voice different from that of the lover who, elsewhere in the divan, boasts that his love is on every tongue. In the fourth couplet two precious stones are tied once more to tears: for the lover whose breast is full of blood, the ruby has lost its meaning, and for the lover whose skirt is full of tears, rows of pearls have done so; his own blood and tears take their place.

The final couplet likens love to a treasure that never runs out. The owner of this treasure scorns being the keeper of the world's treasures; according to Doğan, Avnî counts worldly wealth as nothing but the guarding of a treasury. There is also, Doğan adds, an allusion to the saying that Sufis regard as a sacred hadith, "I was a hidden treasure and loved to be known". In the couplet of a sultan who truly held treasuries, the word "gencûr" (treasurer) carries a weight of its own.

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 28, pp. 257-258 (manuscript: Millet, Ali Emîrî Manzum 305, fol. 9b). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources