Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: mefâîlün mefâîlün feûlün

Dilâ sır ṣaklamaḳ ʿâḳillerüñdür
Anı keşf eylemek câhillerüñdür
Olur aḥmaḳlaruñ ḳalbi dilinde
Ḳalur ʿâḳillerüñ sırrı dilinde
Sen olmayıcaḳ anı setre ḳâdir
O sırrı ola mı hîç kimse sâtir
Dilâ nefsin baṣana er dimişler
Velî sır ṣaḳlayan server dimişler

In English

1. O heart, keeping a secret is the work of the wise; revealing it is the work of the ignorant.

2. The heart of fools is on the tip of their tongue; the secret of the wise stays in their heart. (In the first line "dil" is the Turkish word for tongue; in the second it is the Persian word for heart.)

3. If you yourself are not able to cover that secret, can anyone else ever cover it?

4. O heart, they call the one who subdues his self "er" (a man of valour); but the one who keeps a secret they call "server" (a chief, a leader).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This four-couplet passage is in the mesnevi form, each couplet rhyming within itself. The source does not give the metre; the lines fit the pattern "mefâîlün mefâîlün feûlün" of the hezec family of aruz (quantitative metre), a scansion that is ours, and this pattern is among the most widely used in Turkish mesnevis. Latîfî gives the passage saying that he takes it from Hızrî's book Âb-ı Hayât, and before it he cites the saying "Kulûbü'l-ahrâr kubûru'l-esrâr", that is, "The hearts of the free are the graves of secrets"; the couplets come from the section on the benefits of keeping secrets that this saying opens. Hüseyin Hüsameddin Yasar, quoting Latîfî in his Amasya Tarihi, gives the first three couplets, omits the fourth and reads "O sırra ola mı" in the third. Ahmet Pirinç quotes the first two couplets from Maksut Belen's edition of the mesnevi in the readings "Dile sır saklamak ‘âkılleründür" and "Olur ahmaklarun kâli dilünde"; on this reading the first line of the second couplet means "the words of fools are on their tongue".

After these couplets Hüsameddin adds three more beginning "Râz-dâr olur egerçi yâra yâr", introducing them with "Velehu" (this too is his). In Latîfî's text these three couplets come under the heading "Naẓm li-ġayrihî", that is, verse by someone else; for this reason they have not been counted as Hızrî's and are not included here.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The passage speaks in the voice of a book of counsel: at the head of each couplet the poet either addresses his own heart or states a maxim directly to the reader. The first couplet is built on the contrast between the wise and the ignorant; keeping a secret is tied to reason, revealing it to ignorance. Since both lines end in the sound "-illerüñdür", the words for the wise and the ignorant are also bound together by sound.

The second couplet is the most striking in the passage. Both lines end with the same word "dilinde", but the word carries a different meaning in each. The heart of fools is on their "dil", their tongue, so that they say at once whatever passes through their minds; the secret of the wise stays in their "dil", in the Persian sense of the word, their heart. Setting two words of identical spelling and sound but different meaning against each other in the rhyme position is among the most complete examples of the figure called cinas (paronomasia). In a note to the same entry Hüsameddin also reminds the reader that "dil" is used in the sense of heart. The exchange of heart and tongue turns what the couplet wishes to say into a short formula.

The third couplet is a piece of counsel framed as a question: a person who cannot keep his own secret cannot expect others to keep it. In the last couplet "er" and "server" rhyme. The one who conquers his self is counted a man of valour, but the one who keeps a secret rises a step higher and is called "server", a chief and leader. It is fitting that a poet who served as a council secretary, and whose uncle was the sultan's private secretary, should write couplets exalting the keeping of secrets so highly; however, the sources do not make this link, and it is our interpretation.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

  • Ahmet Pirinç, "Hızrî Amasyavî'nin Âb-ı Hayât Adlı Mesnevîsinde Tanrı Tasavvuruna İlişkin Felsefî Bir Mülâhaza", Uluslararası Amasya Şairleri Bilim Şöleni Bildiriler Kitabı, Ankara: KIBATEK Yayınları, 2018, p. 288. https://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/G00431/2018/2018_PIRINCA.pdf

Online sources