Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Metre: mefâîlün mefâîlün mefâîlün mefâîlün (hezec). No metrical note appears in the edition; we established the hezec.
Gör ol Türk-i Hıtâyî nûş kılmış câm-ı sahbâyı
Salar dil milketine türktâz-ı katl ü yağmâyı
Ruhı nâzüklük ile yele virmiş güller evrâkın
Kadi çâpüklük ile hâke salar serv-i ra‘nâyı
Lebinden bûse men‘ine çekerken gamzesi hançer
Kaçan mümkin-durur dilden giçürmek bu temennâyı
Behâr-ı ‘ârız-ı dilberde tâze güller açılmış
İderse n’ola bülbül gibi ‘âşıklar temâşâyı
‘Aceb mi muğ-beçenüñ la‘l-i cân-bahşına cân virsem
Ki bu deyr-i kühenden taşra salmışdur Mesîhâyı
Harâbât ehlinüñ yanında çün bir cür‘aya degmez
Yeridür âteşe salsam libâs-ı zühd ü takvâyı
Niçe pinhân idem kim âteş-i ‘ışk u mey-i rûşen
Kılur izhâr çâk-ı sîneden her sırr-ı ahfâyı
Çıkar câm-ı Cemi ‘Avnî hazîneñden temâşâ kıl
Eger bilmek murâduñsa ke-mâ-hî kâr-ı dünyâyı
In English
1. Look at that Turk of Cathay; he has drunk the cup of red wine and launches raids of slaughter and plunder on the land of the heart.
2. His cheek in its delicacy has given the rose petals to the wind; his stature in its nimbleness lays the graceful cypress in the dust.
3. While his glance draws the dagger to forbid a kiss from his lip, when is it possible to let this wish even cross the heart?
4. Fresh roses have opened in the spring of the heart-stealer's cheek; what if lovers lose themselves in gazing like the nightingale?
5. Is it any wonder if I give my life for the life-giving ruby lip of the tavern boy? That (lip) has driven the Messiah out of this old church.
6. Since the robe of asceticism and piety is not worth a sip of wine beside the people of the tavern, it would be fitting if I threw it on the fire.
7. Since the fire of love and the bright wine reveal every hidden secret through the tear in the breast, how am I to hide them?
8. O Avnî, if you wish to know the work of the world as it truly is, take Cem's cup from your treasury and gaze into it.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Structure of the Poem
The ghazal opens with a scene of raiding, passes through pictures of spring and the tavern, and closes with a legendary cup in the ruler's treasury. With eight couplets it is one of the longest in the divan. The rhyme is in "-âyı" in the words "sahbâyı, yağmâyı, ra'nâyı, temennâyı, temâşâyı, Mesîhâyı, takvâyı, ahfâyı, dünyâyı" and there is no redif; the pattern is hezec with four "mefâîlün".
Meaning and Figures of Speech
The opening couplet is the raid of a Turkish beloved. Drawing on Ahmet Talât Onay's explanations, Doğan relates that in Persian literature the word "Türk" was used in the senses of beauty, hero, brave and cruel. He notes that the people of Cathay (Hıtâ), Khotan and the Kipchak steppe were associated with plunder and pillage, and that beloveds were called "Turks" because they plundered the lovers' patience with their coquetry and charm. "Türktâz" is a sudden raid for plunder: the Turk of Cathay, having drunk the red wine, launches raids of slaughter and plunder on the land of the heart. That a Turkish ruler should use this conceit of Persian origin is of particular interest.
The second couplet contains two instances of hüsnütalil: the delicacy of the cheek has lowered the worth of the rose petals and given them to the wind, which also recalls withered petals flying in the wind; the swaying of the stature has shamed the cypress and laid it in the dust. In the third and fourth couplets the glance that draws a dagger to prevent a kiss and the roses blooming in the spring of the cheek stand side by side. In the fifth couplet the link between the lip and Jesus is taken a step further: the life-giving lip of the tavern boy has made even Jesus jealous and driven him out of this old church, that is, the world. Doğan sees in the couplet an allusion to the belief that Jesus was raised to heaven and lives in the fourth sphere.
In the sixth couplet asceticism and piety are a robe made of the cloth of hypocrisy worn by the showy Sufi. The people of the tavern value this robe no more than the last drop at the bottom of the cup, and the poet thinks of throwing it on the fire. Doğan sees here an allusion to an old tavern custom: according to Sûdî's commentary on Hafez, among Persian drinkers, when two friends who had quarrelled made peace, the one who sought reconciliation took off his shirt and burned it in thanksgiving for the peace. In the seventh couplet the fire of love and the gleam of wine bring every secret out through the wound in the breast.
Historical Context
The literal and figurative senses of the last couplet are explained at length in the commentary. Câm-ı Cem, according to legend, is the magic cup that the Persian king Cem had made from seven metals in the likeness of the seven heavens, showing every part of the world; according to Sûdî it passed by inheritance to sultans, who watched the justice and order of the world in it. Sûdî relates that the cup passed from Darius to his son Dârâb, that Dârâb, seeing Alexander's stratagems in it, was not defeated by him, and that Alexander therefore had a mirror showing the seven climes set up on a hill in Alexandria. Avnî, addressing himself, says that if he wants to know the work of the world as it is, he should take this cup from his treasury and gaze into it. According to Doğan, by saying that the cup is in his own treasury Mehmed II presents himself as the last link in the chain of great sultans who possessed this cup by inheritance. On the figurative level the cup is divine love and the treasury the heart in which love lies hidden: whoever looks at the world through the window of love reaches the truth of events and of existence.
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 72, pp. 520-527 (manuscript: Millet, Ali Emîrî Manzum 305, fol. 22a). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx
Online sources
