Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilâtün Fâ’ilün

Stanza I

İy Felek ya‘nî cihânda sen de bir san eyledün
Ka‘betu’llâh-ı şerîfi sanki virân eyledün
Ol şeh-i bâlâ-nişîne zulm ü bühtân eyledün
Pâye-i şehlik tarîkın evvel ihsân eyledün
Sonra döndün cevr eliyle kabz-ı dâmân eyledün
Yire çaldun sâye-veş hâk ile yeksân eyledün
Ol kad-i bâlâ-bülendi şimdi pinhân eyledün
Devleti şem‘in söyündürdün şebîstân eyledün
Âteş-i hicrâna gir yan diyü giryân eyledün
Ol ‘adûlar derdine ya‘nî ki dermân eyledün
Âl-i ‘Osmân oğlını al ile bî-cân eyledün
N’eyledün iy çarh-ı zâlim n’eyledün kan eyledün
Yanuna kalursa kalsun ana itdügün cefâ
İy felek kanı ol ala gözlü Sultân Mustafa

Stanza II

Bag-ı firdevs içre ol şeh gül gibi handân iken
Ârzû-yı şehlik ile dem-be-dem şâdân iken
Hem-nişîni gice gündüz hûrî vü gılmân iken
Saltanat bâğında ol şeh dâver-i devrân iken
Ol serây-ı pür-sürûrı her zemân dîvân iken
Mîr-i dîvân emri ile zâr u ser-gerdân iken
Begler ağalar derinde hâk ile yeksân iken
Cümle mahlûkât-ı ‘âlem emrine fermân iken
Nâmı ahkâm evvelinde nâme-i 'unvân iken
Bir suhendân-ı cihân u zübde-i 'irfân iken
Bir dilâver şâh iken bir gonca-i handân iken
………………………………………………
Havfi ile surh-ser geh mest ü geh hayrân iken
Şâh Tahmâsa kara dağlar gibi düşmân iken
Nice kıydun ana iy mekkâre-i bezm-i fenâ
Dimedün mi yıkılur ‘âlem gidicek Mustafa

Stanza III

Bir kemend-i al ile o şeh şikâr olmış-durur
İşbu yüzden bu zen-i mekkâra kâr olmış-durur
Yüri iy câdû-yı dehr al âşikâr olmış-durur
Şerbet-i sükker didügün zehr-i mâr olmış-durur
Râh-ı 'ışka gerçi ol server nisâr olmış-durur
Mâderinün lîk âhı pür-şerâr olmış-durur
Gözlerinden kanlu yaşlar cûybâr olmış-durur
Ol budağı şîveniyle cân-nizâr olmış-durur
Dest-i cevründen o mazlûm zâr zâr olmış-durur
Niçe bin ‘asker bu yolda şermsâr olmış-durur
Tûglar saçın çözüp her târı mâr olmış-durur
Ol sebebden ‘aklumuz hep târmâr olmış-durur
Dôstlar sanman ki dehri pâydâr olmış-durur
Sûretâ gerçi ki dünyâ sana yâr olmış-durur
Gâfil olman gûşuma hâtifden irdi bu nidâ
Didi yitmez mi işâret size Sultân Mustafâ

Stanza IV

Çün sarâyından o şeh çıkdı kad-i bâlâ ile
Gonca-i handânlar ile çihre-i zîbâ ile
Esb-i nâzına süvâr oldı niçe lâlâ-y-ile
Niçe bin ‘askerler ile ya'nî bir deryâ-y-ile
Sancağ-ı şâhî çekildi zîver-i zîbâ-y-ile
Eyledi ‘azm-i Karaman bir ‘aceb alay ile
Hâsılı irdi Karamana rev-i a‘dâ-y-ile
Dest-bûs itdi vezîrân geldiler alay-y-ile
Ba‘dehu ol şeh yirinden turdı istiğnâ-y-ile
Ol otağ-ı şâha irdi zînet-i zîbâ-y-ile
Sâdıkâne atasına girdi bu sevdâ-y-ile
Kapusında pâsbânı olmayan bedrâ ile
Tutuşup anunla düşdi çenge hûy u hây ile
İy dîrîgâ göçdi ol şeh âh u vâveylâ-y-ile
Kimdür ol mazlûm-ı merhûm kim-durur dirsen bana
Hazret-i Sultân Süleymân oğlu Sultân Mustafa

Stanza V

İy Süleymân-ı zamân [u] tâcdârânun neri
V’iy şehenşâh-ı cihân [u] kişverânun ser-beri
Kandasın kanda eyâ iklîm-i Rûmun serveri
Re’y-i a'dâ ile hâk oldı nihâlünün beri
Pâdişâhum göre ol zıll-ı Hudâ-yı enveri
Armagân iltüp önünde kodı ol cân u seri
Lu‘b-ı şirrîr ile oldun ol budagundan berî
Şâh-ı ‘âdilsin koma yanunda ol ehl-i şeri
Kimse ma‘kûl görmedi ‘âlemde şâhâ bu işi
Gide ol sultân-ı ‘âlem kala ol ebter diri
Dostlar görmez misiz ‘âlemde bu 'ibretleri
Âl-i ‘Osmân oğlına kasd eyledi bir nökeri
Gitdi şimden girü yârâ işbu dehrün zîveri
Yâ İlâhî ol şehün bâğ-ı cinân olsun yiri
Bu Fünûnî’nin du'âsı bu durur yâ Rab sana
Ola gönlümden geçen gibi 'adü-yı Mustafa

In English

Stanza I

1. O heavens, so you too have done a deed in the world (won yourself a name); it is as if you had laid waste the noble Kaaba.

2. You dealt oppression and slander to that shah who sat on high; first you had granted him the road to the rank of kingship.

3. Then you turned and seized his skirt with the hand of cruelty; you threw him to the ground like a shadow and made him one with the earth.

4. That tall and lofty one you have now hidden away; you put out the candle of his fortune and made it a dark night.

5. Saying "enter the fire of separation and burn", you made (everyone) weep; that is, you became the cure for those enemies' pain.

6. You left the son of the house of Osman lifeless through a ruse; what have you done, O tyrant heaven, what have you done, you have shed blood.

7. If the cruelty you did him remains your gain, let it remain; O heavens, where is that hazel-eyed Sultan Mustafa?

Stanza II

8. While that shah was laughing like a rose in the garden of paradise, joyful every moment with the desire for kingship,

9. while houris and youths of paradise sat with him night and day, while he was the sovereign of the age in the garden of rule,

10. while that palace full of joy was always a place of council, while the master of the council moaned and turned in bewilderment at his command,

11. while beys and aghas bowed to the ground at his door, while all the creatures of the world submitted to his command,

12. while his name was the title at the head of decrees, while he was the master of speech in the world and the choicest of learning,

13. while he was a valiant shah, a laughing rosebud, [the second line is missing in the source]

14. while the Qizilbash were now drunk, now bewildered with fear of him, while he was an enemy to Shah Tahmasp like black mountains,

15. O deceitful woman of the transient feast (the heavens), how could you slay him; did you not say that the world would fall when Mustafa was gone?

Stanza III

16. That shah was taken by a noose of guile; thus the deed served the purpose of this deceitful woman.

17. Away with you, sorceress of time, the guile is out in the open; what you called a sherbet of sugar has turned out to be snake's poison.

18. That leader did indeed become a sacrifice on the path of love, but his mother's sigh has filled with sparks.

19. The bloody tears from her eyes have become a river; that branch (the prince's child) too has wasted away with weeping (the line can be read otherwise).

20. That wronged one moans continually at the hand of your cruelty; many thousands of soldiers have been put to shame on this path.

21. The standards loosened their horsetail hair and every strand became a snake; for this reason our wits are utterly scattered.

22. Friends, do not think that the world endures; even if in appearance the world has become your friend.

23. Do not be heedless: a voice from the unseen reached my ear and said, "Is Sultan Mustafa not warning enough for you?"

Stanza IV

24. When that shah came out of his palace with his lofty stature and his fair face like laughing rosebuds,

25. he mounted his proud horse with many tutors, with many thousands of soldiers, that is, with a sea,

26. the adorned royal banner was raised; he set out for Karaman with a wondrous procession.

27. At last, falling into the path of his enemies, he reached Karaman; the viziers came in procession and kissed his hand.

28. After that the shah rose from his place with a contented heart; in adornment and beauty he came to the shah's tent.

29. He went in to his father with this longing, sincerely; with one not fit even to be the keeper of his door

30. he grappled and fell to struggling with shouting and uproar; alas, that shah departed with sighs and cries of woe.

31. If you ask me who that late, wronged one is: Sultan Mustafa, son of His Majesty Sultan Süleyman.

Stanza V

32. O Solomon of the age, lion of the crowned ones; O emperor of the world, chief of the lords of lands,

33. where are you, where, O leader of the land of Rum; the enemies' counsel was followed, and the fruit of your sapling has become dust.

34. My sultan, so that he might see that shining shadow of God (the sultan), he (the prince) brought his life and head as a gift and laid them before him.

35. Through the game of the wicked you have been parted from that branch; you are a just shah, do not keep those evildoers at your side.

36. O shah, no one in the world thought this deed reasonable: that sultan of the world is to go, and that base wretch is to remain alive.

37. Friends, do you not see these lessons in the world; a lackey set his hand against the son of the house of Osman.

38. O friend, from now on the ornament of this world is gone; O God, may that shah's place be the garden of paradise.

39. O Lord, this is the prayer of this Fünûnî to You: may the enemy of Mustafa fare as my heart wishes.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is an elegy of five stanzas in the metre "fâ’ilâtün fâ’ilâtün fâ’ilâtün fâ’ilün". The body of each stanza is a long series of lines all ending in the same rhyme: in the first stanza twelve lines run on with the redif (refrain word) "eyledün", in the second fourteen lines with "iken", in the third with "olmış-durur", in the fourth with "ile", and in the fifth the sound "-eri" is repeated. Each stanza is closed by a couplet with a separate rhyme ending in the name "Mustafâ"; these couplets resemble the linking couplets (vasıta beyti) of a terkib-i bend. Recep Hasar gives the rhyme scheme of the poem as "bb, bb, bb… / zz". The first stanza has seven couplets, the others eight each; the second line of the sixth couplet of the second stanza is shown as missing in the source by a dotted line. The pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet: "Bu Fünûnî'nin du‘âsı bu durur yâ Rab sana".

Mehmed Çavuşoğlu published the elegy from folios 173-174 of manuscript Nuruosmaniye 4962 in the Süleymaniye Library; it is given here as quoted in Hasar's thesis. Rahmî's elegy for Prince Mustafa is found on folios 175-176 of the same manuscript; the fact that the two elegies stand side by side in the same anthology suggests that they were collected together. This observation is our own.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The first stanza is a reproach addressed to the heavens: the heavens first opened the road of kingship to the prince, then seized his skirt, threw him to the ground and put out the candle of his fortune. In the line "Âl-i ‘Osmân oğlını al ile bî-cân eyledün" the word "âl", meaning guile, is set beside "Âl", meaning the dynasty; the same wordplay occurs in Taşlıcalı Yahya's elegy. The second stanza builds a series of past scenes with the redif "iken" (while): the prince laughs like a rose in the garden of paradise, his palace is a place of council, his name is the title of decrees. The last couplet of the stanza answers the claim that the prince had come to terms with the Shah of Iran by saying that the Qizilbash were drunk and bewildered with fear of him and that he was an enemy to Shah Tahmasp like black mountains.

The first couplets of the third stanza are the most debated part of the poem. In the couplet "Bir kemend-i âl ile o şeh şikâr olmış-durur / İşbu yüzden bu zen-i mekkâra kâr olmış-durur" the "zen-i mekkâr" (deceitful woman) calls to mind both the heavens, imagined in divan poetry as an old hag, and Hürrem Sultan. Recep Hasar notes that both the heavens, imagined as a deceitful woman, and Hürrem Sultan may be meant here, since with the prince's death Hürrem's son came closer to the throne. Maruf Çakır, too, in examining Sirâcî's phrase "çarh-ı pîre-zen" (the old-hag heavens), cites this couplet of Fünûnî as an example of the same kind of double meaning (tevriye). The rest of the stanza mentions the mother's sigh, the standards loosening their hair in mourning, and the shamed soldiers; the horsetail hair of the standards turning into snakes is an image of both mourning and intrigue.

The fourth stanza tells the event from beginning to end, and Hasar counts Fünûnî, together with Mu'înî and Yahya, among the poets who describe the death scene in detail. The prince leaves his palace with his tutors and thousands of soldiers, the royal banner unfurled, reaches Karaman, the viziers come in procession to kiss his hand, and he goes sincerely into his father's tent and dies struggling with one not fit even to keep the door. The couplet that closes the stanza, "if you ask me who that late, wronged one is", is like the question of a lament. The fifth stanza addresses the sultan; the poet asks him to send away the evildoers around him and voices the people's reaction in the words "that sultan of the world is to go, and that base wretch is to remain alive". Hasar quotes this couplet as a sign that the people did not regard the event as reasonable. The prayer in the last couplet is in fact a curse: the poet wishes that Mustafa's enemy may fare as his heart desires.

Historical Context

According to Gelibolulu Âlî, Fünûnî was from Kastamonu. Hasar considers the elegies of Fünûnî, Mu'înî and Yahya together as poems that recount the prince's death from beginning to end; Fünûnî's account, from the prince's march to Karaman in a great procession to the struggle in the tent, agrees with the scene described in the historical sources. Whom the words "bir nökeri" (a lackey) and "ebter" (base wretch) refer to is not stated openly in the poem. The poet's life is described in the biographical article in this category, and the other elegies in our article Elegies for Prince Mustafa.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Gelibolulu Mustafa Âlî, Künhü'l-Ahbâr'ın Tezkire Kısmı, ed. Mustafa İsen, Ankara: T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı (e-book), pp. 262-263, entry "Fünûnî".

Academic studies

  • Recep Hasar, Türk Edebiyatı'nda Padişah ve Şehzade Mersiyeleri, MA thesis, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, 2018, pp. 89, 93, 99-100, 102, 459-463. https://hdl.handle.net/11352/2746
  • Mehmed Çavuşoğlu, "Şehzade Mustafa Mersiyeleri", İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Tarih Enstitüsü Dergisi, 12, 1981-1982, pp. 662-664 (as quoted in Hasar).
  • Maruf Çakır, "Sirâcî'nin Şehzade Mustafa Mersiyeleri", Kocatepe İslami İlimler Dergisi, 4(1), 2021, pp. 15. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/kiid/article/892994

Online sources