Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Ħarâb ķıldı gözüŋ göŋlümüŋ Amâsiyesin
Ħayâli ķulleye gelse ‘imâret olayidi

In English

1. Your eye has laid waste the Amasya of my heart; had the image of that eye come to (my heart's) tower, the place would have flourished again.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

The couplet is quoted in Nevzat Özkan's article with the reference KBD 72/2 and comes from the ghazal section of the divan. The redif (refrain word) is "olayidi", and the rhyme is the sound "-âret" in the word "‘imâret". The couplet Özkan gives just before it, "Dün içre gelseyidi göŋlüme ħayâli anuŋ" (KBD 71/16), ends with the same refrain and rhyme in "ġâret olayidi"; since the two couplets stand very close together in the divan, they are very probably parts of the same ghazal (gazel), but this is an inference the source does not state. As Ergin's edition could not be consulted, the whole ghazal cannot be given, and the source does not give the metre. The poet's divan, its editions and his other poems are discussed in Kadı Burhaneddin: Literary Persona, Divan and Poems.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

At the centre of the couplet stands the phrase "göŋlümüŋ Amâsiyesi" (the Amasya of my heart): the poet likens his heart to a city, and to Amasya itself. This comparison, made without a particle of comparison by joining the two words in a genitive construction, is of the kind called teşbih-i beliğ (concise simile). The beloved's eye is a conqueror that lays this city waste; in the second line it is said that when the image of the same eye settles on the city's tower, the ruin will flourish again. Thus a clear antithesis is set up between the words "ħarâb" (ruined) and "‘imâret" (prosperity); the one who destroys and the one who restores is the same beloved. This antithesis and the type of the construction are our own observations.

The word "ķulle" means tower or bastion; the tower of the heart's city is its highest and best-protected place. The image coming there means that the beloved takes possession of the heart entirely. Özkan explains the second line as "had his image come to the tower and made my heart prosper". The couplet completes the wish of the previous one from the opposite side: there the coming of the image is desired as a plunder, here the rebuilding of the ruined heart is made to depend on the coming of that image.

Historical Context

Özkan connects this couplet too with the struggle against Ahmed Bey, emir of Amasya: while Sivas was under siege, Ahmed Bey seized some castles belonging to Kadı Burhaneddin, and when the siege was lifted the castles were taken back. That images of castle, tower and ruin enter the poetry of a ruler-poet in this period is a detail that supports Özkan's reading. The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi follows Kadı Burhaneddin's struggle with the emirs of Amasya from his victory over Hacı Şadgeldi in 1381 to the Amasya campaign of 1394; after which of these events the ghazal was written, however, is not known.

Bibliography

Online sources