Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün (remel). The edition gives no metre here; we identified the remel.

Kime yâr olam cihân içinde yârum var iken
Kime kul olam o şâh-ı tâc-dârum var iken
Hâr u has neşv ü nemâ bulur behâr erince âh
Ben hazân-ı hecre düşdüm nev-behârum var iken
Bülbül ü gül işi nâz ile niyâz illâ benüm
Hâsılum dâğ-ı cefâdur lâle-zârum var iken
İntisâbum hizmetüm bî-rağbet oldı ‘âkıbet
Hâr ü zâr oldum ‘azîz ü kâm-kârum var iken
Leşker-i gam şâh-ı ‘ışka niçe bulsun dest-res
‘Avnîyâ meyhâne gibi bir hisârum var iken

In English

1. Whose friend shall I be in the world while I have my beloved? Whose slave shall I be while I have that crowned king of mine?

2. When spring comes, even weeds and chaff grow and flourish; alas, while I have a spring of my own, I have fallen into the autumn of separation.

3. The work of nightingale and rose is coquetry and supplication; but my share, while I have a tulip garden, is the scar of cruelty.

4. My allegiance and my service in the end found no favour; while I have one who is honoured and mighty, I have become despised and wretched.

5. O Avnî, how can the army of grief reach the king of love while I have a fortress like the tavern?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The redif "var iken" (while I have) sets a possession side by side with a deprivation in every couplet: the lover has a beloved, a king, a spring, a tulip garden, an honoured master; yet in spite of these he has fallen into separation, cruelty and contempt. The rhyme falls on the syllable "-ârum" of the words "yârum, tâc-dârum, nev-behârum, lâle-zârum, kâm-kârum, hisârum", and the ghazal completes itself in five couplets of the long remel pattern.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet unites two languages of faithfulness: the beloved is both "yâr", friend, and "şâh-ı tâc-dâr", a crowned king; in his presence the lover will be neither friend nor slave to anyone else. A ruler calling himself the slave of a crowned king is in line with the other couplets of the divan that compare sovereignty and love. The second couplet builds a contrast with the seasons. When spring comes even the most worthless weeds turn green; yet the lover, while he has a beloved as reviving as a "nev-behâr", a fresh spring, has fallen into the autumn of separation.

In the third couplet the relation of rose and nightingale is defined as coquetry and supplication: the rose's work is to be coy, the nightingale's to beg. The lover too has a tulip garden, that is, a beloved, but his only share from her is the scar of cruelty. Doğan recalls that in classical poetry the black spot at the base of the tulip's petals is likened to a "dâğ", a scar or brand; tulip garden and wound thus meet in the same flower.

The fourth couplet speaks in the language of the palace: "intisâb" is attaching oneself to a great man, entering his service, and "hizmet" is service to a master. All the lover's allegiance and service have in the end gone unrewarded, and while he has an honoured and mighty master, he himself has become despised and wretched. The last couplet is a picture of war. Grief is an army and wants to attack the king of love; but the king of love, on the throne of the lover's heart, has taken refuge in a fortress as strong as the tavern, and the army of grief cannot reach him. As in the divan's other couplets that count the tavern a refuge, here too the tavern is a place grief cannot enter.

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 62, pp. 451-452 (manuscript: Millet, Ali Emîrî Manzum 305, fol. 20a). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources