Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fâilâtün feilâtün feilâtün feilün (remel). This pattern comes from our own measuring, not from the edition.

Bâde-i nâb ile buldı ruh-i cânân revnak
Gûyiyâ güller ile buldı gülistân revnak
Zülf-i miskîn ki ruh-i yâr ile tâbende-durur
Şem‘-i pür-nûr ile san buldı şebistân revnak
Dâne dâne ruh-i dilberde ‘arak gören dir
Cem‘-i kevkeble ne bulmış meh-i tâbân revnak
Göricek yaşumı nâz ile salınur ol yâr
Cûy-bâr ile bulur serv-i hırâmân revnak
İşidüp nâlemi handân olur ol yâr bulur
Na‘ra-i bülbül ile gonca-i handân revnak
Eşk-i çeşmümle olur la‘l-i leb-i yâr ferih
Tâb-ı kevkeble bulur la‘l-i Bedahşân revnak
Hatt ü hâl ile bulur ‘Avnî ruh-i yâr şeref
Bâblarla nitekim buldı Gülistân revnak

In English

1. The beloved's cheek has gained lustre with pure wine; it is as if the rose garden had gained lustre with roses.

2. The musk-scented locks, gleaming with the beloved's cheek, are like a night chamber that has gained lustre with a shining candle.

3. Whoever sees the beads of sweat on the beloved's cheek says, "What lustre the shining moon has gained with the gathering of the stars."

4. Seeing my tears, that beloved sways with coquetry; the swaying cypress too gains lustre with the stream.

5. Hearing my lament, that beloved laughs; the laughing bud too gains lustre with the cry of the nightingale.

6. The ruby lip of the beloved rejoices with the tears of my eye; the ruby of Badakhshan too gains lustre with the light of the stars.

7. O Avnî, the beloved's cheek gains honour with down and mole; just as the Gulistan (the rose garden, or Sadi's book) gained lustre with its chapters.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

All the couplets of this seven-couplet ghazal are built on the same pattern: the first line states a fact about the beloved, the second explains it with a counterpart from nature or life and ends with the word "revnak", lustre, the gaining of brightness and beauty. This regular structure is close to the manner, known in rhetoric as "tebâdür" or "temsil", that sets up a likeness between two separate statements. The rhyme is the "-ân" sound of the words "cânân, gülistân, şebistân, tâbân, hırâmân, handân, Bedahşân, Gülistân". The measure comes from the mahbun branch of remel.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first two couplets work with colour and light. The cheeks of the beloved who drinks wine redden and resemble the red roses blooming in a rose garden. The black, fragrant locks of the second couplet shine with the light of the cheek, just as a night chamber is lit by a candle. Doğan finds an unordered lef ü neşr between the locks and cheek in the first line and the candle and chamber in the second: the cheek answers to the candle and the locks to the chamber, but the order is reversed.

The third couplet likens the beads of sweat on the cheek to stars gathered around the moon. The fourth and fifth couplets tell of an exchange between lover and beloved: the lover's tears make the beloved sway with coquetry, just as the cypress at the edge of a stream is refreshed by water; the lover's cry makes the beloved laugh, just as the bud opens at the nightingale's song. The lover's pain becomes a source that feeds the beloved's beauty.

The sixth couplet turns to the ruby of Badakhshan. Badakhshan, in north-eastern Afghanistan, is a region famous for its precious stones, especially the kind of ruby called "la'l-i Bedahşân"; according to a tradition Doğan cites from Onay, the stone is named after this region not because it was mined there but because it was brought from elsewhere and polished there. In the couplet the lover's tears are shining stars, and the beloved's smiling lip the ruby that gleams in their light. The final couplet sets up a double meaning with the word "Gülistân". The word means rose garden, but it is also the title of Sadi's famous book of ethics in eight chapters. The rose garden gains beauty through its ordered beds, the book through its chapters; and the beloved's cheek is adorned by its down and moles as a book is by its chapter headings.

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 36, pp. 294-296 (manuscript: Millet, Ali Emîrî Manzum 305, fol. 12a). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources