Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fâilâtün feilâtün feilâtün feilün (remel). The edition does not show the stanzas' metre; recognising it as mahbun remel is our work.

Sevdüñ ol dilberi söz eslemedüñ vây göñül
Eyledüñ kend’özüñi ‘âleme rüsvây göñül
Saña cevr eylemede kılmaz o pervây göñül
Cevre sabr eyleyemezsen ni’deyin hây göñül
Göñül eyvây göñül vây göñül eyvây göñül
Çâk olan dest-i cefâ-y-ile girîbânuñdur
İlişen hâr-ı gam u mihnete dâmânuñdur
Dökilen yire belâ tîği-y-ile kanuñdur
Her dem ağıza gelen mihnet ile cânuñdur
Göñül eyvây göñül vây göñül eyvây göñül
Tâli‘üñ yüzi gülüp olmadı handân n’ideyin
Yüregüñ derdine bulınmadı dermân n’ideyin
Kasduña yâr çeker hançer-i bürrân n’ideyin
Virisersin bu gam u mihnet ile cân n’ideyin
Göñül eyvây göñül vây göñül eyvây göñül
‘Işk-ı dildâr ile niçe idesen nâle vü zâr
Eyledüñ sabr ü karârı bu hevâlarda nisâr
Zülfi sevdâsı ider ‘âlemi çün başuña dâr
Fâyide ne tutalum eyleyesen terk-i diyâr
Göñül eyvây göñül vây göñül eyvây göñül
Vasl-ı dilberle nasîb olmadı dil-şâd olmak
Dest-i cevr ile yıkılan dilüñ âbâd olmak
Dâm-ı gamdan dil ü cân bülbüli âzâd olmak
Niçeye dek işüñ efgân ile feryâd olmak
Göñül eyvây göñül vây göñül eyvây göñül
Çünki dildâr niyâzuñ görüben nâz eyler
Nâleñi işidicek şîveye âgâz eyler
Bezm-i gamda kadüñi çeng yüzüñ sâz eyler
Nâlişüñ perdesini Zühreye dem-sâz eyler
Göñül eyvây göñül vây göñül eyvây göñül
Bilmedüm derd-i dilüñ ölmek imiş dermânı
Öleyin derd ile tek görmeyeyin hicrânı
Mihnet ü derd ü gama olmağiçün erzânî
‘Avnîyâ sencileyin mihnet ü gam-keş kanı
Göñül eyvây göñül vây göñül eyvây göñül

In English

1. You did not listen, you loved that heart-stealer, alas, my heart; you have disgraced yourself before the world, my heart. She does not shrink at all from tormenting you, my heart; and if you cannot bear the cruelty, what am I to do, oh my heart. My heart, alas my heart, woe my heart, alas my heart.

2. It is your collar that is torn by the hand of cruelty; it is your skirt that catches on the thorn of grief and hardship; it is your blood that is spilt on the ground by the sword of affliction; it is your soul that comes to the lips at every moment with hardship. My heart, alas my heart, woe my heart, alas my heart.

3. The face of your fortune has not smiled and rejoiced, what am I to do; no cure has been found for the pain of your heart, what am I to do; the beloved draws a sharp dagger to take your life, what am I to do; you will give up your soul with this grief and hardship, what am I to do. My heart, alas my heart, woe my heart, alas my heart.

4. How long will you moan and weep with love for the beloved? You have scattered your patience and composure on these desires. Since the passion for her locks makes the world narrow for you, what good shall we gain if you leave your homeland? My heart, alas my heart, woe my heart, alas my heart.

5. It was not your lot to be glad-hearted in union with the beloved; nor was it your lot that your heart, ruined by the hand of cruelty, should flourish again, nor that the nightingale of heart and soul should be freed from the snare of grief. How long will your work be lament and outcry? My heart, alas my heart, woe my heart, alas my heart.

6. For when the beloved sees your entreaty she plays coy; when she hears your moaning she begins her charms; in the gathering of grief she makes your stature a harp (çeng) and your face a saz; she makes the pitch of your lament a companion to the star Venus. My heart, alas my heart, woe my heart, alas my heart.

7. I did not know that death was the cure for the heart's pain; let me die of pain, only let me not see separation. To be worthy of hardship, pain and grief, O Avnî, where is one who bears hardship and grief like you? My heart, alas my heart, woe my heart, alas my heart.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

Each of the seven stanzas closes on the same line: "Göñül eyvây göñül vây göñül eyvây göñül" (my heart, alas my heart, woe my heart, alas my heart). The only long verse form other than the ghazal among the edition's 85 pieces, this muhammes is built of five-line stanzas; the first four lines of each stanza rhyme with one another, and the fifth is the refrain repeated unchanged in every stanza. Because of its repeated line, the poem falls into the branch of the muhammes called "mütekerrir". The rhymes of the stanzas change: the first stanza uses "vây göñül, rüsvây göñül", the second "-ânuñdur", the third "-ân" with the redif "n'ideyin", the fourth "-âr", the fifth "-âd olmak", the sixth "-âz eyler" and the seventh "-ânı". The metre is remel in its mahbun branch, moving in feilâtün feet.

In the Millet Library manuscript the poem occupies folio 15b. The Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü, in listing the contents of the divan, mentions a muhammes; Halil İnalcık too states that the sole manuscript contains seventy ghazals, one muhammes and one kıt'a. Doğan presents the poem not as a tahmis, a five-line expansion of someone else's ghazal, but as Avnî's own poem.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The poem is from beginning to end the lover's address to his own heart. The heart has not listened, has loved the heart-stealer and has disgraced itself before the world; the lover is both angry with it and sorry for it. The second stanza lists four wounds in four lines: the torn collar, the skirt caught on the thorn, the blood spilt by the sword, the soul come to the lips. That every line ends in the same way with "-uñdur" (it is your…) counts the heart's losses like a ledger. The third stanza repeats the lover's helplessness with the redif "n'ideyin" (what am I to do): fortune has not smiled, no cure has been found for the pain, the beloved has drawn her dagger.

The fourth stanza recalls the path of Mecnun: when the world grows narrow, one thinks of leaving one's homeland and taking to the deserts, but this too will be of no use. The fifth stanza lists the things that were not one's lot and uses together familiar images of the divan such as the nightingale, the snare and the ruined house. The sixth stanza sets up a musical gathering: in the gathering of grief the lover's stature bends like a harp (çeng), his face yellows like a saz, and the "perde", the pitch or mode, of his lament accompanies the star Venus (Zühre), the musician of the sky. In divan poetry Venus is known as the minstrel of heaven.

In the last stanza the lover finds the cure he sought: the remedy for the heart's pain is death, and the lover chooses to die of pain rather than see separation. The poet names himself in the fourth line of this stanza, "'Avnîyâ sencileyin mihnet ü gam-keş kanı": where is one who bears pain and grief like you? When the refrain is repeated for the last time, it turns into a single moan voiced by all the stanzas. While most of the divan's ghazals address the beloved or the rival, this muhammes, with its voice turned to the poet's own heart, has a place of its own in the divan.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • 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 48, pp. 363-366 (manuscript: Millet, Ali Emîrî Manzum 305, fol. 15b). https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/urun/fatih-divani-ve-serhi--ucuncu-baski-_794.aspx

Academic studies

Books

Online sources