Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün (remel). The edition does not show the pattern of the Veyis lines; we determined it.

Hüsn ile cânânlar içre cân-ı cânândur Veyis
Şerbet-i la‘liyle dil derdine dermândur Veyis
Ağlamaz cân bülbüli şimden girü feryâd idüp
Bâğ-ı dilde hüsn ile bir verd-i handândur Veyis
Nice ma‘mûr olmasun dil mülki ‘adl ü dâd ile
Bunca yıldur kim göñül tahtında sultândur Veyis
Eşk-i çeşmüñi şerâb u bağruñı eyle kebâb
Ey dil-i âşüfte çün bir gice mihmândur Veyis
‘Avnîyâ çün devlet el virdi ki mihmân oldı yâr
Fursatı fevt itme kim biñ câna erzândur Veyis

In English

1. Veyis is, in beauty, the soul of souls among the beloveds; Veyis, with the sherbet of his ruby lip, is the cure for the heart's pain.

2. The nightingale of the soul will no longer lament and weep; Veyis is a rose laughing in its beauty in the garden of the heart.

3. How should the realm of the heart not flourish with justice and bounty? For so many years Veyis has been sultan on the throne of the heart.

4. O distracted heart, make the tears of your eye wine and your breast a kebab; for Veyis is a guest for one night.

5. O Avnî, fortune has lent a hand and the beloved has become your guest; do not miss the chance, Veyis is worth a thousand lives.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Repeating a proper name in the redif is a choice rarely met with in divan poetry. All five couplets end with the name "Veyis"; the words "cânân, dermân, handân, sultân, mihmân, erzân" rhyme on the syllable "-ân", and the suffix "-dur" before the redif gives a verdict about the beloved in every couplet. The metre is remel. Doğan took the word "kebâb" in the fourth couplet from Ali Emîrî's copy (Manzum 530).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

"Veyis" is the form used in Turkish of the Arabic name "Üveys". According to Doğan it is one of the many symbolic male names used for the beloved in classical Turkish poetry; in the Sufi understanding of love, the type of the beloved who reflects absolute beauty appears in male form, and the male beloved in Mehmed II's poems too should be understood within the union of figurative and divine love. The names "Mahmud" and "Sinan" in the twenty-third ghazal are of the same kind.

The opening couplet makes Veyis the soul of the beloveds and the remedy for the heart's pain; the phrase "cân-ı cânân" creates an intensity through the repetition of soul within soul. The nightingale of the soul no longer weeps in the second couplet, for the rose it sought has bloomed in the garden of the heart. The third couplet uses the language of sovereignty: for years Veyis has been sultan on the throne of the heart, and his justice makes the land of the heart flourish. In the twenty-eighth ghazal love had ruined the heart; here the beloved's reign builds it up.

The fourth and fifth couplets are a scene of hospitality. Veyis is to come as a guest for one night; the lover will offer him his liver, burned in the fire of love, as a kebab, and the bloody tears flowing with the pain of separation as wine. The final couplet counts this visit a favour of fortune: "devlet el virdi", luck has lent a hand. The chance must not be missed, for Veyis would be cheap even at a thousand lives. "Erzân" means cheap, and the couplet measures the beloved's worth by a market reckoning, counting a thousand lives as the price to be paid.

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 30, pp. 265-266 (manuscript: Millet, Ali Emîrî Manzum 305, fol. 10a). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources