Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün (remel). The edition does not mention the metre; the pattern is ours.

Kâmetin yâd itmez aña kim leb-i cânân gerek
Sakınur lâ-büd hevâdan her kime kim cân gerek
Eşk deryâsını saldum virmedi teskîn aña
Sîne tâbı def‘ine ol âb-gûn peykân gerek
Rahş-ı ‘ışka virmedi sahrâ-yı hicrân hîç za‘f
Tâ kıyâmet imtidâdınca aña meydân gerek
Ol perî ‘ışkın dimezven göñlüme dîvânedür
Düşmeninden râzı lâ-büd kişinüñ pinhân gerek
‘Avnîyâ rindân harâbât içre ‘ayş itmek içün
‘Arsa-i ‘âlem aña sahn ü felek eyvân gerek

In English

1. He who seeks the beloved's lip does not call her stature to mind; everyone who wants his life surely guards against the air (against whim).

2. I let loose the sea of tears and it did not calm (the fire in my breast); to drive off the heat of the breast that water-coloured arrowhead is needed.

3. The desert of separation has not tired the horse of love at all; it needs a field stretching to the Day of Judgment.

4. I do not tell my heart of my love for that fairy, for it is mad; a man must surely hide his secret from his enemy.

5. O Avnî, for the rinds to make merry in the tavern, the expanse of the world is needed as its courtyard and the sky as its hall.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The redif "gerek" (is needed, must) states a condition or a need in each couplet. The words "cânân, cân, peykân, meydân, pinhân, eyvân" rhyme on "-ân". Remel is the metre here as well. The fourth couplet is a matter of dispute between the editions: Kemal Edip Ünsel read a word as "demürden" (of iron) and said the line made no sense. Looking carefully at the manuscript, Doğan sees that the letter Ünsel took for "dâl" is a "vav" and that the copyist forgot the dot of the letter "ze", and he reads the word as "dimezven" (I do not say, I do not tell). With this reading the line gains a clear meaning.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet, in Doğan's interpretation, binds two pairs of concepts within a lef ü neşr: stature and whim, lip and soul. The lip is the symbol of speech, spirit and soul in divan poetry; the miracle of Jesus, who raised the dead with his breath, strengthens this bond. The stature, on the other hand, calls to mind bodily beauty and material pleasures. One who desires eternal life and union with the absolute beloved must guard against passing desires. As Doğan also recalls, the word "hevâ" means a draught and the rheumatic ailment that comes from it: one who loves his life naturally keeps out of draughts.

The fire in the lover's breast, in the second couplet, does not go out despite the sea of tears; only the tempered steel arrowhead of the beloved's glance can put it out. The likening of steel weapons, hardened in water and shining like water, to water in divan poetry has already been seen in the divan's tenth, twelfth and nineteenth ghazals. In the third couplet love is a racehorse; even the desert of separation does not tire it, and it needs a field stretching to the Day of Judgment.

The fourth couplet is an unexpected piece of advice on keeping secrets. The lover does not reveal his love for the fairy-born beloved even to his own heart, for the heart is mad and cannot keep such a secret; in Doğan's words, on this path even one's own heart is one's enemy. The final couplet enlarges the tavern of the rinds (the free-spirited drinkers) to the measure of the universe. Old taverns had a broad courtyard and a raised hall (eyvan) where honoured guests were entertained; the tavern fit for the rinds has the earth as its courtyard and the sky as its hall. The whole universe turns into a tavern.

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 41, pp. 325-328 (manuscript: Millet, Ali Emîrî Manzum 305, fol. 13b). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources