Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün (remel). Doğan records no metre for this ghazal; identifying it as remel is our work.

Murg-i dil her dem ider ol âteşîn ruhsâra meyl
Kim semender lâ-büd ider kande-y-ise nâra meyl
Kûyına ‘azm eylesem devr-i ruhında yok ‘aceb
Ehl-i diller mevsim-i gülde ider gülzâra meyl
Âhum işitdükce rahm ider nigâr ammâ rakîb
Rahm kılmaz bâda itmez çünki seng-i hâra meyl
La‘li devrinde harâbâtîlügüm ‘ayb eylemeñ
Rind olan eyler hemîşe gûşe-i hammâra meyl
‘Avnî asmaz kulağına dürr ü la‘lin ‘âlemüñ
Tûtî-i tab‘ı ider ol şekkerîn-güftâra meyl

In English

1. The bird of the heart is ever inclined to that fiery cheek; for the salamander, wherever it is, inclines to fire.

2. It is no wonder if I set out for her street in the season of her cheek (the season of roses); the people of the heart incline to the rose garden in the season of roses.

3. Whenever she hears my sigh the beloved takes pity, but the rival does not; for the wind does not make the hard rock incline (cannot move it).

4. Do not blame my tavern-haunting in the season of her ruby lip; the rind always inclines to the corner of the tavern.

5. Avnî does not hang the world's pearls and rubies on his ear; the parrot of his nature inclines to that sugar-tongued one.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Each couplet of the ghazal sets up a causal link between its two lines: the first line gives an action of the lover, the second a general rule that explains it, and the rule gathers in the redif "meyl" (inclination). Through the five couplets the rhyme holds to the "-âra" sound of "ruhsâra, nâra, gülzâra, hâra, hammâra, güftâra"; the metre is remel.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet rests on the legend of the salamander. The salamander (semender) is a legendary creature believed not to burn in fire, and even to live in fire, and in divan poetry it is likened to the heart of the lover who delights in burning in the fire of love. Avnî's heart-bird runs to the beloved's fire-coloured cheek for this reason. In the second couplet "devr-i ruh", the season of the cheek, is the time when beauty is on every tongue; just as it is natural to go to the rose garden in the season of roses, so it is natural to go to the beloved's street in the season of her cheek.

In the third couplet three elements stand side by side. In Doğan's explanation the lover's sigh is the wind; the beloved, in her delicacy, is moved by the sigh and takes pity, like a rose branch or a slender sapling bending in this wind; the rival, however, is like a huge black rock that does not stir however hard the wind blows. The word "meyl" also works here in the sense of bending: the wind cannot bend the rock.

The fourth couplet defends the life of the rind (the free-spirited drinker). Because of its redness and because it is the source of intoxicating words, the lip is likened in divan poetry to wine and the tavern; the lover who has given his heart to the lip should therefore not be blamed for never leaving the tavern. In the couplet that bears his pen name the poet turns to his own art. Avnî does not hang the world's pearls and rubies on his ear as earrings, for in the beloved's mouth there are teeth more precious than pearls and lips like rubies. "Tûtî-i tab'", the parrot of the poetic nature, inclines only to the sugar-tongued beloved. Doğan sees here an allusion to the knowledge that parrots were taught to speak by being fed sugar, and notes that the poet says he uses his poetic power only to praise the beloved's mouth. According to Doğan, since in Sufism the mouth and lip are the symbol of the divine word and of unity, the couplet can also be read as saying that the poet writes poetry to give voice to divine secrets.

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 46, pp. 353-355 (manuscript: Millet, Ali Emîrî Manzum 305, fol. 14b). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources