Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fâilâtün feilâtün feilâtün feilün (remel). There is no note on metre in the edition; we measured the lines.

Bilmezem ne didi ol dilbere ağyâr yine
Kıldı bünyâd-ı cefâ ol büt-i ‘ayyâr yine
Gördüm ol dilberi kûyında ider seyr didüm
Zînet olmış gül ile gûşe-i gülzâr yine
Şehr içinde çü revân oldı revân ben de didüm
Fitne-y-ile pür olur kûçe vü bâzâr yine
Tarf-ı burka‘ götürüp ‘arz-ı cemâl eyler ise
Şehri nûr ide gibi âteş-i ruhsâr yine
Gamzesi tîğine tâkat getürimez kimse
Nakd-i cân virmek ile ‘Avnî harîdâr yine

In English

1. I do not know what the strangers said to that heart-stealer; that deceitful idol has again laid the foundations of cruelty.

2. I saw that heart-stealer strolling in his street and said: once more a corner of the rose garden has been adorned with a rose.

3. When he moved through the city flowing like a soul, I said at once: street and market will again fill with turmoil.

4. Should he lift the edge of his veil and display his beauty, the fire of his cheek would again seem to flood the city with light.

5. No one can bear the sword of his glance (or find the means to buy it); but Avnî, paying the cash of his life, is again its buyer.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The redif "yine" (again) announces a repetition in every couplet: the beloved has again built cruelty, the garden has again been adorned, the market has again filled with turmoil, the city has again been lit, Avnî has again become a buyer. The words "ağyâr, 'ayyâr, gülzâr, bâzâr, ruhsâr, harîdâr" rhyme on "-âr". In metre it shares the mahbun remel pattern of the fifty-fourth ghazal.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the opening couplet the beloved, following the word of the strangers (ağyâr), has once again laid a "bünyâd-ı cefâ", a foundation of cruelty. Doğan notes that the naming of the beloved as an architect of cruelty is also seen in the thirty-third and fifty-seventh ghazals; the epithet "büt-i 'ayyâr" (deceitful idol) stresses the deceptiveness of beauty. In the second couplet the beloved's strolling in his street resembles a corner of the rose garden being adorned with roses.

The third couplet is one Doğan interprets at length. The word "revân" occurs twice in the couplet: the first time meaning "flowing", the second "at once". In divan poetry the beloved is called "rûh-ı revân", the flowing soul, because in his charm and delicacy he is subtle as a soul and walks swaying like a river. Doğan sees a deeper meaning in the use of "revân" and "fitne" together: "revân" means soul, and the soul recalls Jesus, the spirit that God breathed into Mary; Jesus is believed to descend from heaven near the end of time, and "fitne" means, besides turmoil, the Last Day. On this reading, when the beloved walks through the city like a soul, people will think that Jesus has descended and the end is near, and turmoil will break out in the market.

The fourth couplet recalls the sunrise: when the beloved lifts the edge of his veil and shows his red and shining cheek, he floods the city with light like the sun rising from the horizon. The play of the last couplet is on an idiom. "Tâkat getirmek" means in the dictionary to endure, but in everyday speech it also expresses having the means to buy something. No one can endure the sword of the beloved's glance, no one can find the money to buy it; Avnî, however, paying his life as the price, becomes once again the buyer of that sword.

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 65, pp. 470-472 (manuscript: Millet, Ali Emîrî Manzum 305, fol. 20b). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources