Original Persian Text

Metre: Feʿûlün feʿûlün feʿûlün feʿûl (our identification)

The Arabic-script text in Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi (nine couplets; the letter spacing of the print has been corrected):

بود اين سخن كرچه ترك ادب
تو دانا خطايى نباشد عجب
پيمبر كه دارش خداى كريم
حصال حميده و خلق عظيم
روا كى شود آخر اى عاقلان
بود فيض عقل از مجوس بدان
بود از مدد نغمه از عقل دور
كه نبخشد به خورشيد نو
محالست كه ميزاب خشك و رقي
كند فيض بخشى ببحر عميق
كجا شد كه در يتيم نفيس
بكيرد صفايش زسنك خسيس
نباشد ز روضات دارالنعيم
طراوت بكيرد ز نار جهيم
مكو اينجنين و بپرهيز از و
صواب سخن كه بخواهى مكو
شه كسرى از ظلم ازان ساده است
كه در عهد او مصطفى زاده است

The Latin-script text in Filiz Kılıç's edition of Âşık Çelebi's tezkire (twelve couplets):

Buved în suḫan gerçi terk-i edeb
Zi dânâ ḫaṭâyî nebâşed ʿaceb
Peyember ki dâdeş Ḫudâ-yı kerîm
Ḫıṣâl-i ḥamîde vü ḫulḳ-i ʿaẓîm
Revâ key şeved âḫir ey ʿâḳilân
Buved feyż-i ʿadl ez Mecûsî ber ân
Buved ez medâr-i heme ʿaḳl dûr
Ki sâye be-baḫşed be-ḫurşîd nûr
Muḫâlest ki mîzâb ḫuşk u daḳîḳ
Kunet feyż-baḫşî be baḥr-i ʿamîḳ
Kücâ şud ki dürr-i yetîm-i nefîs
Be-gîred u ṣafâyeş zi seng-i ḫasîs
Nebâşed ki ravżât-ı dârü'n-naʿîm
Ṭarâvet be-gîred zi nâr-ı ḥacîm
Megû în çünîn ü be-perhîz ezû
Ṣavâb-ı suḫan ger be-ḫâhî be-gû
Şeh-i kisra ez ẓulm ez ân sâdeest
Ki der ʿahd-i û Muṣṭafâ-zâdeest
Nemî bûd bâ anki ḥadd-i çü men
Çünîn fâżılî râ çünînem suḫan
Velî men ki mest-i mey-i ġayretem
Key endîşe dârem zi Câmî vü Cem
Reh-i bâde-nûşân ʿaceb meslekist
Ki der çeşmişân bende vü şeh yekist

In English

1. Though this saying is a breach of good manners, it is no wonder that an error should come from a learned man. (The translation in the edition understands this line as a question: "would a man who knows ever err?")

2. That the Prophet, to whom the generous God gave praiseworthy qualities and a sublime character,

3. should take the blessing of justice from a Zoroastrian, O men of reason, how could that be thought proper?

4. That the shadow should grant light to the sun is wholly far from reason.

5. It is impossible that a dry and narrow gutter should grant abundance to the deep sea.

6. How could a unique and precious pearl (dürr-i yetîm) take its lustre from a worthless stone?

7. It cannot be that the gardens of Paradise should take their freshness from the fire of Hell.

8. Do not speak so, beware of it; if you wish to speak, speak the truth.

9. The Chosroes was purified of oppression because Mustafa was born in his reign.

10. It was not for one like me to speak such words to so virtuous a man (Câmî).

11. But I am drunk with the wine of zeal; what fear have I of Câmî or of Cem?

12. The way of the wine-drinkers is a strange calling; in their eyes servant and king are one.

The rendering follows the translation in the footnote of the edition, departing from it in the first and fifth couplets according to the dictionary sense. The edition translates "mey-i ġayret" in the eleventh couplet as "the wine of jealousy".

Literary and Historical Commentary

Historical Context

The kıta is a reply to a kıta by Molla Câmî and can only be understood when read together with it. Âşık Çelebi first gives Câmî's kıta, which he says is in the Bahâristân: "Peyember ki der ʿahd-i Nûşîrvân / Be ruḫ geşt çeşm ü çerâġ-ı cihân // Hemî güft k'ez ẓulm ez ân sâdeem / Ki der ʿahd-i Nûşîrvân zâdeem." According to the edition's translation, the Prophet, who was born in the time of Nûşirevân and who with the brightness of his face became the light of the world's eye, says, "my freedom from oppression comes from my being born in the reign of Nûşirevân". Câmî here relies on a saying that presents birth in the reign of Nûşirevân, the Sasanian ruler famous for his justice, as a cause of pride for the Prophet. Dervîş Çelebi's objection is to this relation of cause and effect.

Âşık Çelebi praises the reply with the words "Bu muḳâbelede didügi bu ḳıṭʿa siḥr-i ḥelâldür", this kıta he spoke in reply is lawful magic. Hüsameddin too, relying on Âşık Çelebi, quotes the kıta in Arabic script together with Câmî's.

Structure of the Poem

The kıta is built in the mesnevi arrangement, each couplet rhyming within itself, and is in the pattern "feʿûlün feʿûlün feʿûlün feʿûl". Câmî's kıta is in the same metre; Dervîş Çelebi gave his reply in his opponent's measure. The two sources of the text differ. Âşık Çelebi's edition has twelve couplets; according to the edition's footnote, the fifth and sixth couplets (the couplets of the gutter and the pearl) are missing from most manuscripts. The Arabic-script text given by Hüsameddin contains the first nine couplets, including these two, but leaves out the last three, the close in which the poet speaks of his place before Câmî and of the "wine of zeal". A few words also differ in Hüsameddin's text: in the first couplet "tu dânâ" (you are learned) is read for "zi dânâ" (from a learned man), in the third "feyż-i ʿaḳl" (the blessing of reason) for "feyż-i ʿadl" (the blessing of justice); the fourth couplet is corrupt in this text.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The shadow cannot give light to the sun, a dry gutter cannot give water to the sea, a precious pearl cannot take its lustre from a common stone, the garden of Paradise cannot take its freshness from the fire of Hell: Dervîş Çelebi's reply is a row of such similes of impossibility. In each simile the great one is the Prophet and the small one Nûşirevân, and blessing can only flow from the great to the small. The word "Mecûsî" recalls that Nûşirevân was a fire-worshipper; the simile of Paradise and hellfire is therefore all the more apt. The ninth couplet turns the thesis upside down: the Chosroes owed his justice to the Prophet, because Mustafa was born in his reign. Câmî's line "Ki der ʿahd-i Nûşîrvân zâdeem" becomes in Dervîş's hands "Ki der ʿahd-i û Muṣṭafâ-zâdeest"; the same mould, with its subject changed, is turned back on its author.

The last three couplets change the tone. The poet admits that it was not his place to speak so to a great master like Câmî, but at once says that he is drunk with the "wine of zeal" and fears neither Câmî nor Cem, the legendary king of Iran. The closing couplet grounds this in the language of the libertines (rind): in the eyes of the wine-drinkers servant and king are one. A dispute about good manners thus ends in the libertine's claim of equality. The naming of Câmî and Cem side by side shows that in the poem the king and the great poet are weighed on the same scale. The date of the kıta is not given in the sources; no meeting or correspondence between Dervîş Çelebi and Câmî is recorded either. Dervîş Çelebi's lineage and offices are set out on the page Dervîş Mehmed Çelebi.

Bibliography

Online sources