Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün

‘Ārife devletden istiġnā gibi devlet mi var
Terk-i leẕẕāt-ı cihān etmek ḳadar leẕẕet mi var
Şāh-ı ālī-cāhdan dervīş-i ḫāṭır-rīşe dek
Kimseye taḫt-ı serāy-ı dehrde rāḥat mı var
‘Āşḳ-ı ḥüsn-i pāk ezelden ḫāṣlar maḫṣūsudur
Yoḳsa ‘āmīlerde heyhāt öyle ḫāṣiyyet mi var
Leẕẕāt īrāş eylenir āmīzeş-i enbā‘-ı dehr
‘Āḳıle ‘uzlet gibi sermāye-i ‘izzet mi var
Naḳş-ı Şīrīn kūhda āsāndır ammā ben gibi
Kūhkende kūh-ı miḥnet çekmeye ṭāḳat mı var
Yār ḳatlimçün vużū’ ḳılmış taḳarrub ‘azmini
Yā żamīrinde namāzım ḳılmaġa niyyet mi var
Ey Basīrī ‘abdin aḥvāli aña ma‘lūm iken
Dergeh-i Mevlāda ‘arż-ı ḥācete ḥācet mi var

In English

1. For the gnostic, is there any fortune like having no need of fortune (worldly favour)? Is there any pleasure as great as abandoning the pleasures of the world?

2. From the king of lofty rank to the dervish of wounded heart, who has any ease on the throne of the palace of the world?

3. Love for pure beauty has been reserved since pre-eternity for the elect; otherwise, alas, is there such a quality in common people? (The word printed "‘Āşḳ-ı" in the edition must be "‘Işḳ-ı", love. "Hâs" (elect) and "hâsiyyet" (quality) come from the same root.)

4. Mixing with the people of the world brings (humiliation); for the wise is there any capital of honour like retreat into solitude? (The first line cannot be understood in its printed form. "Enbā‘" is very probably "ebnā" (sons, people), and "leẕẕāt" must also be a misreading or misprint; the contrast with "izzet" (honour) in the second line suggests that a word such as "zillet" (humiliation) stood here. The translation rests on this conjecture.)

5. To draw Shirin's picture on the mountain is easy; but is there a mountain-digger with the strength to bear the mountain of affliction like me? (The mountain-digger Ferhad cut through Mount Bîsütun to win Shirin and carved her likeness on the rocks.)

6. The beloved has performed his ablution with the intention of drawing near to God by killing me; or does he intend in his heart to perform my (funeral) prayer?

7. O Basîrî, since the servant's state is known to Him, is there any need to present one's need at the threshold of the Lord?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of seven couplets in the remel family of aruz (quantitative metre), in the pattern "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün"; the source does not state the metre, which emerges from scansion. The redif (refrain word) is "mi var" (is there); the rhyme rests on the sound "-et": devlet, leẕẕet, rāḥat, ḫāṣiyyet, ‘izzet, ṭāḳat, niyyet, ḥācet. Each couplet ends with a question, and these are questions whose answer is known and which carry the sense of a denial. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet in the spelling "Basīrī".

This ghazal is not among the Turkish poems in Basîrî's divan manuscript. Ahmet Kartal gives it under the heading "Basîrî'nin Diğer Şiirleri" (Basîrî's other poems), from Cemal Kurnaz's book of 1999; Kurnaz's source is not stated in the article. The spelling is close to modern orthography ("etmek", "ḳadar"). The first line of the fourth couplet makes no sense in its printed form and very probably contains a misreading or misprint; this place is clearly marked in the translation. To whom and when it was written is not known.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Among the poems attributed to Basîrî, this ghazal is one of those in which the tone of counsel and wisdom is marked. In the first couplet the words "devlet" (fortune) and "lezzet" (pleasure) are each repeated twice: the gnostic's fortune is to need no fortune, and the greatest pleasure is to abandon pleasures. This way of defining a word through its own opposite expresses the Sufi idea of contentment (istiğna) and renunciation in a short paradox. In the second couplet the king and the dervish are set side by side as the two ends of the world; the world is a palace, but no one is at ease on its throne.

In the third couplet there is a derivation (iştikak) between "ḫāṣ" (elect) and "ḫāṣiyyet" (quality); the word "‘āmī" (common people) also contrasts with "ḫāṣ". Love for pure beauty has been given to the elect since pre-eternity. The fifth couplet alludes to the story of Ferhad and Shirin. Ferhad cut through the mountain to win Shirin and carved her picture on the rock; the poet says that drawing a picture on a mountain is easy, that the hard thing is to bear the "mountain of affliction", and counts himself above Ferhad. Kartal notes that in his poems Basîrî compares himself with Majnun and Ferhad and considers himself superior to them.

The sixth couplet is an example of a congruence of images (tenasüp) built from terms of worship: ablution (vużū'), drawing near to God (taḳarrub), intention (niyet) and prayer. The beloved prepares to kill the lover as though it were an act of worship, by performing ablution; or he has resolved to perform the lover's funeral prayer. The final couplet uses the word "ḥācet" (need) twice: since the servant's state is known to God, there is no need to present one's need. This punning expression rests on the familiar formula "arz-ı hâcete hâcet yok", there is no need to state one's need, and ends the ghazal on a note of trust in God.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Books

  • Ahmet Kartal, "Basîrî ve Türkçe Şiirleri", İlmî Araştırmalar: Dil, Edebiyat, Tarih İncelemeleri 10 (2000), pp. 77-96, "Basîrî'nin Diğer Şiirleri", ghazal 2: p. 96 (note 22: Kurnaz 1999, pp. 141-142); discussion: p. 84, https://acikerisim.fsm.edu.tr/xmlui/handle/11352/1033.
  • Cemal Kurnaz, Türkiye-Orta Asya Edebî İlişkileri, Ankara: Akçağ Yayınları, 1999, pp. 141-142 (from Kartal 2000's quotation; the book itself was not seen).

Online sources