Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Hazretâ re'y-i cihân-ârâ ki arz-ı hâl eden
Ca'fer-i Sâdık-terîn ü abd-i bî-mikdârdır
Hâk-i pâyın kuhli virür çeşm-i cânâ rûşenâ
Her nefes dilde du'â-yı devletin tekrârdır
Zerre-perverlik edib hûrşîd-i 'âlem-tâb-veş
Nice hâlin dersenüz âlemde mekrim vardır
Âsitânın kim sa'âdet-âşiyânıdır sana
Dil uçub varmak dilersen Ca'fer-i Tayyârdır

In English

1. My lord, the one who lays his case before your world-adorning judgement is a Ca'fer more loyal even than Ca'fer-i Sâdık, and a servant of no worth.

2. The collyrium of the dust of your feet gives light to the eye of the soul; with every breath the prayer for your fortune is repeated on the tongue.

3. If, cherishing the mote like the world-illuminating sun, you were to ask "how are you", I would have received a kindness in this world. (The word "mekrim" in the second line could not be understood in this form; the rendering is a guess.)

4. If the heart wishes to fly to your threshold, which is for you the nest of felicity, that heart is Ca'fer-i Tayyâr.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

These four couplets are part of a kaside (qasida). Hüsameddin quotes them from the kaside that Ca'fer Efendi presented to Muzaffer Efendi, who came to the city as judge of Amasya in 961, with the words "these couplets have been transferred here". Nothing is known of the rest of the kaside, its length or the place of these couplets within it; since the piece does not begin with an opening couplet (matla), it must have been taken from the middle of the kaside. The rhyme is the sound "-âr" in the words bî-mikdâr, tekrâr, var and Tayyâr, followed by the redif (refrain word) "-dır". The second line of the third couplet is hard to understand because of the word "mekrim" that comes before "vardır", which carries the rhyme; there may be a typesetting or reading error in the printing.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

What carries these couplets is the poet's play on his own name with the names of two famous Ca'fers. In the first couplet he presents himself as "Ca'fer-i Sâdık-terîn", more loyal even than Ca'fer-i Sâdık. Ca'fer-i Sâdık is the great scholar of the Prophet's line whose name is joined to the epithet "sâdık", loyal, truthful; by adding the Persian superlative suffix to the word "sâdık" in his epithet, the poet both recalls the famous name and declares his devotion to the judge. In the last couplet it is Ca'fer bin Ebû Tâlib, the Prophet's cousin, who is recalled. Because it is related that he fell as a martyr at the battle of Mu'ta after losing both arms, and that God gave him two wings with which to fly in paradise, he is called "Tayyâr", the flier. The poet likens his heart, which wishes to fly to the judge's threshold, to this flying Ca'fer. Thus at the beginning and the end of the kaside the poet's name circulates through two separate double entendres (tevriye).

The two couplets in between use the familiar praise formulas of the kaside tradition. The dust of the judge's feet becomes collyrium for the eye and brightens it; the poet prays with every breath for his fortune. In the third couplet the judge is likened to the sun and the poet to a mote: the sun lights even the smallest mote, and the judge will look after his humble servant by asking after him. This contrast between mote and sun is often used in divan poetry in praise of the great.

Historical Context

The kaside was written for a particular occasion, the arrival of a new judge in the city. Ca'fer was in those years professor of the Torumtay madrasa and had twice served as deputy judge of Amasya; he was, that is, in a position to work closely with the city's judge. One may therefore think that the kaside carries both a welcome and a wish for patronage; Hüsameddin does not explain this. No further information on Muzaffer Efendi is given in the entry. Ca'fer Efendi's years as professor and judge are traced in the article Ca'fer Efendi of Zara: Commentator, Judge and Poet.

Bibliography

Online sources