Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün

Nev-bahârân tâze-sâz-ı gülşen-i ġamdur baña
Cûş-ı gül ṭufân-ı ḫûn girdâb-ı şebnemdür baña
Gülsitân beyt-i ḥazîn sünbüller anda dûd-ı âh
Naġme-i bülbül fiġân-ı bezm-i mâtemdür baña
Söndi nâr-ı ‘ışḳ-ı zülf-i sîne-yi simîn-berân
Deşt-i pür-berf üzre şâḫ-ı ḫârdan kemdür baña
Gûyiyâ sümpâreyi teklîf ider ḫûn-âb ile
Ḫâl-i la‘lin dilberân ol dem ki gel em dir [bana]
Görmeyem ol şûḫ-erâẕil âşnâ-yı ‘işreti
Yâr-i bikr-i ḫâne-i dil perver-i ġamdur baña
Bâġ-ı fâni pîrezen rûyinde şâḫ-ı yâsemen
Bûy-ı ḫoş-serde aġarmış zülf-i pür-ḫamdur baña
Pür-firâġım ṣûr-ı İsrâfîl ü şûr-ı rüste-ḫîz
Tîzter-i nây ü nevâsı özge ‘âlemdür baña
‘Âkif incitme beni bu ġam-fezâ güftârla
Aġlarım senden aña kim benden erḥamdür baña

In English

1. For me the seasons of spring are instruments that renew the rose garden of grief; the surge of the rose is to me a flood of blood, the drop of dew a whirlpool.

2. The rose garden is to me a house of sorrow, its hyacinths the smoke of sighs; the song of the nightingale is to me the lament of a gathering of mourning.

3. The fire of love for silver-bodied beauties has gone out in me; to me it is worth less than a thorn branch in a snow-covered desert. (The couplet is not wholly clear.)

4. When the mole on the ruby lip of the beauties says "come, suck", it is as if it offered me a piece of poison with bloody water. (The couplet is not wholly clear; the word in square brackets belongs to the edition.)

5. Let me not see that base coquette familiar with drinking parties; the untouched beloved of the house of my heart is the grief that nourishes me.

6. This transient garden is an old hag; the jasmine branch on her face is to me a fragrant but whitened, curling lock of hair.

7. I am untroubled by the trumpet of Israfil and the tumult of the Resurrection; the sharp voice and melody of the reed flute are to me another world entirely.

8. Âkif, do not hurt me with these grief-increasing words; complaining of you, I weep to the One who is more merciful to me than I am (to God).

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The poem is a ghazal (gazel) of eight couplets written in the remel pattern "fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilâtün fâ‘ilün" of aruz (quantitative metre). The redif (refrain word) is "-dur baña / -dür baña" (is to me); the rhyme rests on the final sound "-m" of the words "ġam, şebnem, mâtem, kem, ‘âlem, erḥam". The repetition of the rhyme word "ġam" in the fifth couplet is noticeable. The word "[bana]" at the end of the fourth couplet belongs to the edition; the authors supplied in square brackets the refrain that appears to be missing in the manuscript. The number is the order of the sample poem in the article by Öntürk and Tunçadam; the poem's number among the ghazals of the divan is not given in the article. To whom and when it was written is unknown.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The ghazal is built by reversing the most joyful images of divan poetry. Spring becomes an instrument that renews grief, the opening of the rose a flood of blood, the dewdrop a whirlpool. The rose garden is "beyt-i ḥazîn", a house of sorrow; the phrase recalls "beytü'l-hazen", the name given to the room in which Jacob shut himself away in longing for his son Joseph. The nightingale's song turns into a cry of mourning, and the jasmine branch into a whitened curl on the face of the world as an old hag. These contrasts are a good example of the pessimistic mood that Öntürk and Tunçadam see in Âkif's ghazals. The poet sees the world as "bâġ-ı fânî", a transient garden, and hears in the voice of the reed flute the herald of another world. In the last couplet the poet addresses his own pen name (mahlas): the words "the One who is more merciful to me than I am" point to God, and the ghazal closes with a supplication. The reading of the third and fourth couplets is not wholly clear; their rendering is approximate.

Historical Context

Öntürk and Tunçadam say that the themes of the transience of time and of not relying on the world predominate in Âkif's ghazals and that a pessimistic mood shows itself in them. There is no information on the occasion of this ghazal. For the poet's life, see the article Îdîzâde Âkif Mustafa Efendi.

Bibliography

  • Tolga Öntürk and Özcan Tunçadam, "Amasyalı 'Îdî-zâde Âkif Mustafa ve Divanı", Hikmet-Akademik Edebiyat Dergisi, 6(12), 2020, pp. 259-281 (text: pp. 274-275). https://doi.org/10.28981/hikmet.683811

Online sources