Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Murâd üzre felek devr itmege ey dil zemân ister
İrişmek ol mehüñ vaṣlına ʿömr-i câvidân ister

In English

1. O heart, it takes time for the wheel of heaven to turn as one wishes; to attain union with that moon-faced one requires an eternal life.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Ehlî here sets two measures of waiting side by side. In the first line the lover addresses his own heart and counsels patience: the wheel of heaven (felek) that turns fortune does not at once turn as one wishes; that takes time. In the second line the consolation is instantly undone, for the time needed to reach the beloved exceeds a human lifetime; only an "ömr-i câvidân", an eternal life, could suffice.

"Zemân" rhymes with "câvidân", and the refrain is "ister". There is also a link between the wheel of heaven and the moon (mehüñ): the moon is a heavenly body turning on that wheel, and the image of the sky unites the two lines. The calm, reflective voice of the couplet sets it apart from Ehlî's other couplets, which rest on wit. Âşık Çelebi records it as the third of the couplets he gives one after another in the poet's entry with the words "Ve lehu". The address "ey dil", O heart, appears again in the couplet "Zulmi az eylese ey dil" given by Kınalızâde; Ehlî's lover talks to his own heart as much as to the beloved.

Bibliography

Online sources