Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: feilâtün feilâtün feilâtün feilün (remel). The edition names no pattern; we scanned these lines of invitation ourselves.

Yine mestâne gelüñ ‘azm-i harâbât idelüm
Hizmet-i pîr-i mugân ile mübâhât idelüm
Hum-ı meyden götüri ‘âlemi seyrân idelüm
Tûr-ı ‘ışka çıkalum yine münâcât idelüm
Zâhid-i huşk kabûl eyleyüben ‘özrümüzi
El virürse bir ayağ ile mükâfât idelüm
Ta‘n idüp hâlete bize eger inkâr ide
Bâde vü beng şühûdı-y-ile isbât idelüm
Hüsn-i yâr âyine-i dilde görinmezse eger
‘Avnîyâ [bâ]de-i nâbı aña mir’ât idelüm

In English

1. Come, let us again in drunken state set out for the tavern; let us take pride in serving the Magian elder.

2. Let us view the whole world from the wine jar wholesale (cup by cup, or all at once); let us climb the Sinai of love and once more make our intimate prayer.

3. If the dry ascetic accepts our excuse and lends a hand, let us reward him with an "ayak" (a cup, or a kick).

4. If he finds fault with our state and denies us, let us prove (our way) by the witness of wine and hemp (beng).

5. O Avnî, if the beloved's beauty does not appear in the mirror of the heart, let us make pure wine a mirror for it.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The redif "idelüm" (let us do) turns the ghazal into a collective invitation: the speaker addresses a company of friends and in every couplet proposes something to be done together. The rhyme is the "-ât" sound of the words "harâbât, mübâhât, münâcât, mükâfât, isbât, mir'ât"; most of them are Arabic verbal nouns and Sufi terms. The pattern is mahbun remel, three of its four feet being "feilâtün".

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is built from beginning to end on the symbolism of the tavern, and Doğan gives the Sufi meaning of each word, drawing on Süleyman Uludağ's dictionary of Sufi terms. The "mugân" are the Magi, who regard fire as sacred; the "pîr-i mugân" is their old priest, and figuratively the old tavern-keeper. In Sufi poetry "harâbât" (the tavern) carries the senses of the dervish lodge, the heart, the ruin and annihilation of self and body, and the station of union that makes those who have reached God drunk with the wine of unity; the Magian elder is the perfect spiritual guide who serves the wine of love.

In the second couplet Doğan sees a likeness of shape: in old taverns the wine jars were very large, and the tavern boys climbed up to the mouth of the jar by ladder to fill them; the poet likens this climb to Moses' ascent of Mount Sinai. The jar represents the heart, the excursion (seyrân) the spiritual journey, Sinai the source of divine truth, and "münâcât" the servant's intimate prayer to his Lord. The word "götüri" means both drinking cup after cup and wholesale, all at once, and the two senses work together.

The third couplet is a joke at the ascetic's expense. The dry ascetic is, in divan poetry, the type of the formalist Sufi who knows nothing of the essence of religion. If he accepts our excuse, we shall reward him with an "ayak": "ayak" means both cup and foot, so the reward may be a cup of wine or a kick. In the fourth couplet, if the ascetic denies us, wine and "beng" (hemp) will be called as witnesses; in Doğan's explanation, in Sufism wine stands for divine love and ecstasy, "beng" for the truth tasted at the station of subsistence in God, and "isbât" for the work of erasing bad habits and putting good ones in their place. The poet shows the ascetic, who judges people by their outward appearance, the love inside the heart as his evidence.

The last couplet uses the conceit of the mirror, and here Doğan recalls that the Persian "âyine" originally meant a steel plate, since early mirrors were made of polished steel. If the tablet of the heart does not reflect the beloved's beauty, pure wine holds up a mirror to it; in divan poetry a cup full of wine is often likened to a mirror. In the Sufi reading, if no state of maturity appears in the heart, the heart must be filled with the wine of divine love.

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 53, pp. 398-401 (manuscript: Millet, Ali Emîrî Manzum 305, fol. 17a). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources