Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fâilâtün feilâtün feilâtün feilün (remel). The edition does not specify the pattern; the reading is our own.

Tañ mıdur itse göñül nâle vü efgân bu gice
Gelmedi meclise ol dilber-i fettân bu gice
Tâ seher kalsa göñül zulmet içinde ne ‘aceb
Yanmadı karşuma ol şem‘-i şebistân bu gice
Ne ‘aceb ağlar ise bülbül-i cân çünki gelüp
Gülüp eglenmedi ol yüzi gülistân bu gice
Gelüp ol serv-i revân olmadı yanumca revân
Gözlerüm itdi revân yaşlar ile kan bu gice
Sâkiyâ def‘-i melâl itmege peymâne getür
Çün sıdı dilberümüz ‘ahd ile peymân bu gice
Vuslatı şem‘ini çün yakmadı ol yâr gelüp
Fürkati nârına ‘Avnî yüri sen yan bu gice
Bu kelâm ile Nizâmî işidürse sözüñi
İlteler saña hased Sa‘dî vü Selmân bu gice

In English

1. Is it any wonder if the heart moans and laments tonight? That mischievous heart-stealer did not come to the gathering tonight.

2. What wonder if the heart stays in darkness until dawn? That candle of the night chamber did not burn before me tonight.

3. What wonder if the nightingale of the soul weeps? The one whose face is a rose garden did not come tonight to laugh and make merry.

4. That swaying cypress did not come to walk beside me; my eyes shed blood with tears tonight.

5. O cupbearer, bring the goblet (peymâne) to drive away sorrow; for our heart-stealer broke his pledge and promise (peymân) tonight.

6. O Avnî, since that beloved did not come to light the candle of union, go, burn yourself tonight in the fire of separation from him.

7. Should Nizâmî hear your words in this manner (of verse), Sadi and Salman would send you their envy tonight.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The whole ghazal tells of a single night: a night when the beloved did not come, the candle did not burn and the promise was not kept; and its redif is "bu gice" (tonight). The text is missing from the main manuscript in the Millet Library; Doğan takes it from Ali Emîrî's copy (Manzum 530, fol. 42a) and from Hacı Kemâl's anthology of response poems called Câmiü'n-Nezâir (fol. 326b). The "-ân" sound links the rhyme words "efgân, fettân, şebistân, gülistân, kan, peymân, yan, Selmân". The metre is mahbun remel, "fâilâtün feilâtün feilâtün feilün". The name Avnî appears in the sixth of the seven couplets; the last is a boast.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first four couplets are built on the same pattern: first a state of the lover, then its reason. The heart moans because the beloved did not come; the heart stayed in the dark because that candle did not burn; the soul's nightingale weeps because the rose-faced one did not laugh and make merry. Doğan explains the candle of the second couplet as the beloved's image: the divan lover knows that union with the beloved is almost impossible and contents himself with the image. He compares this thought with Fuzûlî's couplet "Yandurmağuma yeter hayâlün / Yohdur mana tâkat-i visâlün" (your image is enough to burn me; I have no strength for union with you) and with couplets by Mihrî and Necâtî. The word "revân" appears three times in the fourth couplet, each time in a different sense: "serv-i revân" is the swaying cypress, "revân olmak" to walk, "revân itmek" to make flow.

The fifth couplet also has a play of sound: "peymâne" means goblet, "peymân" pledge, promise. When the beloved breaks his promise, the cupbearer must bring the goblet; the closeness of the two words answers the broken promise with the filled cup. In the sixth couplet the lover addresses himself: since the beloved has not lit the candle of union, Avnî must burn himself in the fire of separation.

The last couplet praises the poet's own art. Nizâmî of Ganja, Sadi of Shiraz and Salman of Saveh are the great Persian poets whom divan poets regarded as masters and tried to imitate and answer with response poems. Avnî says that if Nizâmî heard his verse, Sadi and Salman would send him their envy tonight. Doğan notes that these three poets had long been dead by then, and that the poet indulges in hyperbole by saying they would envy him even in their graves and even come into his dreams to make their envy known. The redif works in this last couplet too: the envy will be conveyed tonight, the night the beloved did not come.

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 68, pp. 487-490 (not in Millet 305; Ali Emîrî's copy (Manzum 530) fol. 42a, Câmiü'n-Nezâir fol. 326b). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Online sources