Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefâîlün mefâîlün mefâîlün mefâîlün (hezec). For a text gathered from anthologies the edition reports no metre; we determined it as hezec.

İreli cân kulağına senüñ ‘ışkuñ nidâsından
Urup lebbeyk işigüñde tavâf eyler safâsından
Perîşân zülfüñi gören meger kim miske beñzetmiş
Yüzi kara olup kaçdı Hatâya ol hatâsından
Seherde bülbüle sordum niçün feryâd idersün sen
Niyâz eylerem Allah’a rakîbüñ iftirâsından
Mahalleñ iti incidür beni bilmezlige urup
Ne müşkildür cefâ irmek kişiye âşnâsından
Firâkuñ odı cânumı yakar rahm eylemez baña
Şehenşâha ne gam yansa fakîrüñ bûriyâsından
Benüm sen şâh-ı meh-rûya kul olmak iledür fahrüm
Gedâ-yı dilber olmak yeg cihânuñ her safâsından
‘Aceb mi olsa ger ‘Avnî cihân sultânları hânı
Ki düşdi üstine sâye senüñ destüñ hümâsından

In English

1. Since the call of your love reached the ear of the soul, (the soul) cries "labbayk" at your threshold and circles it in that delight.

2. Whoever saw your dishevelled locks must have likened (them) to musk; and the musk, for this error, fled in disgrace to Cathay (Hıtâ).

3. At dawn I asked the nightingale, "why do you lament?" (It said:) "I plead with God because of the rival's slander."

4. The dog of your street pretends not to know me and torments me; how hard it is for a man to suffer cruelty from one he knows.

5. The fire of separation from you burns my soul and shows me no pity; what does the king of kings care if a poor man's mat burns?

6. My pride is to be the slave of you, the moon-faced king; to be the beggar of the heart-stealer is better than every delight of the world.

7. Is it any wonder if Avnî is the khan of the world's sultans? For the shadow of the huma of your hand has fallen on him.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Absent from the main manuscript in the Millet Library, the ghazal survives in three other sources, from which Doğan compiles it: the anthology of response poems called Câmiü'n-Nezâir by Hacı Kemâl of Eğirdir (fol. 277b), Ali Emîrî's copy (Manzum 530, fol. 41a), and the Mecmaü'n-Nezâir of Nazmî of Edirne in the Nuruosmaniye Library (no. 4915, fol. 318a). After the fifth couplet the Câmiü'n-Nezâir gives one more couplet: "Senüñ 'ışkuñda cân fânî olursa gam degül şâhâ / Bekâdur âşıka lezzet ne hazzı var safâsından" (if the soul passes away in love for you, O king, no matter; subsistence is the lover's pleasure, what joy is there in its delight). Doğan did not take this couplet into the text because it is not found in the other two sources and its rhyme repeats. Saffet Sıtkı read the second line of the first couplet as "Olur lebbeyk işi gökde", and Kemal Edip Ünsel repeated this error.

The redif is the suffix "-dan" (from); the rhyme is in "-âsından" in the words "nidâsından, safâsından, hatâsından, iftirâsından, âşnâsından, bûriyâsından, hümâsından". The seven couplets follow the four-"mefâîlün" pattern of hezec.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The opening couplet is built in the language of the pilgrimage. "Lebbeyk" (labbayk) is the word of the servant answering God's call, meaning "here I am, my Lord, at Your command", and pilgrims repeat it aloud as they circle the Kaaba. Doğan recalls the belief that before going on pilgrimage people receive a spiritual call; the lover's soul too, since it heard the call of love, circles the beloved's threshold like a Kaaba. The second couplet is a hüsnütalil and a pun. Musk is obtained from the musk deer of the high mountains of Asia, and the home of this deer is the region of Hıtâ (Hatâ, Cathay), between northern China and Turkestan. The poet explains the musk's being found there by shame: the musk, having dared to be likened to the beloved's locks, fled in disgrace to Hıtâ for this "hatâ" (error). "Hatâ" (error) and "Hıtâ" (the name of a country) are the same in writing; locks, musk and the blackened face also form a congruence of images through the colour black.

The third couplet rests on the belief that prayers made at dawn are accepted; the nightingale pleads with God to be protected from the slander of the rival, that is, of the rose's thorn. The rivals of the fourth couplet are the dogs of the street; because the lover always roams around the beloved's house he has become acquainted with them, yet they still pretend not to know him and torment him. The fifth couplet alludes to an old custom of complaint. According to what Doğan quotes from Ahmet Talât Onay, people who suffered injustice used to stand on the road along which sultans and dignitaries were to pass, burning straw or a mat on their heads, to draw attention and make their grievance heard; Doğan also gives couplets by Hâletî, Mesîhî and Hâmî alluding to this custom. In Avnî's couplet the fire of separation burns the lover's soul, but the king of kings does not care if the poor man's mat burns. That the sultan, who would face such petitioners, here puts himself in the petitioner's place gives the couplet a further meaning.

The sixth and seventh couplets end in the language of sovereignty. The lover's pride is to be the slave of the moon-faced king; to be the heart-stealer's beggar is better than all the pleasures of the world. The huma bird appears in the last couplet: whoever the shadow of this "bird of fortune", believed to live on Mount Kaf and fly at great heights, fell upon would become king. The beloved's hand is a huma, and since its shadow has fallen on Avnî, it is no wonder that he is the khan of the world's sultans. Doğan takes the "dest" (hand) of the couplet as a figure for God's help and grace, and says that by tying the power of his sovereignty to God's help Avnî shows the humility of a believing ruler. If one remembers that the pen name "Avnî" also comes from "avn", meaning help, the couplet unites the poet's name and his sovereignty in the same idea of help.

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 64, pp. 460-464 (not in Millet 305; Câmiü'n-Nezâir fol. 277b, Ali Emîrî's copy (Manzum 530) fol. 41a, Nazmî, Mecmaü'n-Nezâir (Nuruosmaniye 4915) fol. 318a). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources