Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Dilde sebük-i aşk-ı Hüdâ-dâd gerektir
Beyhûde bahâ na’ra-yı Hüdhüde değildir

In English

1. In the heart there must be the lightness (or the path) of a God-given love; not in vain is value set upon the cry of the hoopoe. (The reading of two words in the couplet is uncertain; see the commentary.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

This couplet, the last of the pieces Hüsameddin selected, is the one to be understood with most reserve because of difficulties of reading in the text. The word "sebük" in the first line means light, nimble in Persian; since "the lightness of love" seems strained in sense, the word may be a misread or mistyped form of a word such as "sülûk", walking the path of the order, or "sebk", style. Which is right could not be determined from the text in the e-book.

The second line refers to the hoopoe (Hüdhüd), the bird that in the Qur'an brings Solomon the news of the queen of Sheba and is known in Sufi literature, especially in Attâr's Mantıku't-tayr, as the guide who leads the birds. Not in vain is value set on the hoopoe's cry, for it carries God's message. A closeness of sound is also built between "Hüdâ" and "Hüdhüd".

The word "bahâ" in the line has been read in the sense of value, price. Nevertheless, that the poet's name was Bahâeddîn also suggests that the word might be a pen name; in that case the couplet would be the last couplet of a ghazal, its makta, and the line could be read "Bahâ, the hoopoe's cry is not in vain". Hüsameddin does not say that the poet used a pen name; this possibility goes no further than a guess.

Bibliography

Online sources