Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün (remel). The edition gives no measure; we supplied the name and the pattern.

Ey cefâ-hû hâtırum derd ile mahzûn eyledüñ
Zahm-ı sînemden gözüm yaşın ciger-gûn eyledüñ
Gam beyâbânında şeydâ idüp ey Leylî-hırâm
‘Akl ü hûşumdan ayırduñ beni Mecnûn eyledüñ
Eşk-i sîm ü rûy-i zerdüm nakdini izhâr idüp
Dôstum ‘uşşâk içinde beni Kârûn eyledüñ
La‘l-i nâbuñ yâdına kan içmek idi ‘âdetüm
Eşk-i hûnînüm aña yâr itdüñ efzûn eyledüñ
Çün gubâr-ı hecre teskîn virmedi ne fâide
Gözlerüm yaşını dut kim Nîl ü Ceyhûn eyledüñ
Hecr bî-dâdına ülfet dutmış idi ‘Avnînüñ
Gayrlarla ‘ayş idüp hâlin diger-gûn eyledüñ

In English

1. O you whose nature is cruelty, you have saddened my mind with pain; from the wound in my breast you have made the tears of my eye the colour of liver.

2. O you who sway like Leylâ, you have made me mad in the desert of grief, parted me from my reason and senses, made me Mecnun.

3. By pouring out the cash of my silver tears and my yellowed (golden) face, my friend, you have made me a Korah among lovers.

4. It was my habit to drink blood in remembrance of your pure ruby lip; you made my bloody tears its companion and increased it.

5. What use is it, since it did not settle the dust of separation? Suppose you have made the tears of my eyes the Nile and the Oxus.

6. Avnî had grown used to the tyranny of separation from you; by making merry with others you have changed his state.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Each couplet levels a charge at the beloved with the redif "eyledüñ" (you made); the six of them read like an indictment. The rhyme is the "-ûn" sound in the words "mahzûn, ciger-gûn, Mecnûn, Kârûn, efzûn, Ceyhûn, diger-gûn"; two proper names entering the rhyme, Mecnun and Korah (Kârûn), and the name of a river, the Oxus (Ceyhun), give the ghazal a breadth of story and geography. The ghazal is in remel.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet calls the beloved "cefâ-hû", one whose nature is cruelty; blood from the wounded breast has dyed the tears the colour of liver. In the second couplet the beloved is "Leylî-hırâm", one who sways like Leylâ; and the lover, because of her, is a Mecnun who has lost his mind in the desert of grief. This couplet fits the whole scene of the story of Leylâ and Mecnun into two words.

The third couplet is the most skilful in the ghazal. Korah (Kârûn) is the man of Moses' people who, the Qur'an tells, was swallowed by the earth because he boasted of his wealth. The lover's tears are silver, and his face, yellowed by love, is gold; by spreading this "cash" before everyone's eyes, the beloved has turned the lover into a Korah among lovers. Doğan counts this both as an allusion and as a hüsnütalil: when the lover's wealth was revealed, he too met Korah's fate, falling into the dust of the road and almost sinking into the earth.

The fourth couplet tells of the lover drinking the blood of his liver in remembrance of the ruby lip; the beloved has increased this blood by adding bloody tears to it. The fifth couplet is built on an exaggeration of rivers: the tears flow like the Nile and the Oxus, yet they are not enough to settle the dust of separation; just as rain lays the dust, the tears are expected to lay the dust of separation. The final couplet accuses the beloved of a new cruelty. Avnî had grown used to separation and learned to live with its pain; seeing the beloved make merry with others, his state has been turned upside down once more.

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 38, pp. 306-308 (manuscript: Millet, Ali Emîrî Manzum 305, fol. 12b). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources